


Reborn in Fire

by Aerle



Series: Fire Universe [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Arson Inspector, Blood, Explicit Sexual Content, Fire, Firefighters, M/M, Romance, Secrets, Violence, aikido
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 15:50:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 188,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3296027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerle/pseuds/Aerle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fireman Marco has earned the nickname 'the Phoenix' by saving numerous people from a certain death. After an accident however, he has to relearn to walk and gets a new job as arson inspector at a different fire station. There he gets confronted with a boy from his past, now all grown up and gorgeous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Vergina-spva and MyLadyDay for beta'ing (most) chapters
> 
> The beginning of this story is set about a year before the story 'Hot as Fire' starts

When he woke up, he felt slightly surprised. He was alive, somehow. It wasn’t a shocking experience, it happened pretty often he managed to get out of the most desperate situations alive. He didn’t know how, but he did it. He should have been dead long ago, but the laws of physics didn’t seem to apply to him. Not all of them, at least.

Thatch put down the newspaper when he noticed he was awake. “You scared the hell out of everyone again,” he commented dryly.

“You should know me better by now.” With much difficulty, Marco hoisted himself in a sitting position. He was in the hospital again, judging by the white walls and the many machines.

“I didn’t say you scared _me_.”

Marco shook his head. “So, how bad was it this time?”

“The burning building collapsed while you were still inside. A heavy beam landed on your lower back, but somehow you managed to get out, don’t ask me how.” Thatch grinned. “They don’t call you ‘the Phoenix’ for nothing.”

Marco just grunted. He was a fireman and had often saved people out of the fire when the situation had deemed hopeless. His fellow firefighters had christened him ‘the Phoenix’, as every time he came back out of the fire alive. Personally, he didn’t care for the nickname. He didn’t save all those people for the glory or to be a hero. He had a debt to repay. That he couldn’t seem to die in the fire was a welcome bonus.

A man in a white coat entered the room. “You’re awake.” He sounded surprised.

“Yes.”

Apparently, everyone had expected he would remain in a coma, according to the doctor. “It’s already a miracle you survived. Most people who come out of a situation like yours alive remain in a comatose state for the rest of their lives.”

Thatch exchanged a look with Marco and winked knowingly at him.

“You’ve been very lucky,” the doctor continued. “There is also bad news, however. The chance that you will ever walk again is next to nothing.”

Thatch jumped up. “That’s impossible! Don’t you know who he is? Marco the Phoenix! He comes out in one piece in the most hopeless situations!”

But the doctor shook his head. “He can count himself lucky to be alive. But I’m afraid he will have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.”

* * *

A few weeks later, however, the doctor retracted his statement. Marco have been able to move his legs and feel sensations with them. The whole world of medicine was baffled. With intense physiotherapy, Marco slowly learned how to walk again. At first, it hurt like hell, but with time, the pain faded. He was able to walk with crutches.

When he told Thatch, his brother had laughed. “Typically Marco. You should have been dead, but you come out of a burning building alive. You should be in a coma, so you wake up. You shouldn’t be able to walk, so you grab your crutches. I wouldn’t be surprised if you one day manage to become young again.”

Marco snorted. He wasn’t that old, was he?

* * *

Several days later, he got an unexpected visitor. The assistant brigade manager of his fire brigade stopped by. After Marco’s last accident, he had once visited him in the hospital, saying to his regret Marco couldn’t be a full-fledged firefighter if he couldn’t walk. It had devastated Marco, even though he had already known. His debt wasn’t repaid yet. If he couldn’t be a fireman, how would he fulfil his obligation to that young boy?

He had been depressed ever since he heard the news. But when there was a chance he might be able to walk again, he got his hopes up. However, he didn’t want to contact the fire brigade before he was able to walk without crutches again. So why was the assistant brigade manager here?

“I heard the Phoenix had risen again,” the man said with a smile when Marco had opened the door.

“Hardly. I still can’t walk without these.” Marco gestured towards his crutches.

The assistant brigade managers shook his head. “You shouldn’t be alive, let alone be hobbling around.”

Without responding, Marco made his way to the kitchen, brushing aside the assistant brigade manager’s offers to help. Sighing, Marco put on the kettle for tea. He was really growing tired of people telling him he was lucky to be alive.

Of course, he was happy still lived, but the only thing he could think about was how he had let that boy down, ten years ago. After all these years, the guilt still hadn’t gone away and the only way he believed it would was by continuing rescuing people, like he had done before.

With the teapot in one hand, he could only use one crutch. Carefully, he walked back to the living room. The assistant brigade manager asked again if he could help, but Marco declined. After he had gone back to the kitchen for mugs, he sunk into a chair and looked at his guest expectantly.

The assistant brigade manager cleared his throat. “I know how hard it was for you to hear you couldn’t be a firefighter anymore. And I heard your walking is improving slowly. But I doubt you can go back to your old ways anytime soon, rushing in burning buildings, giving everyone a heart attack in worry and rise out of the fire. But maybe I have a solution.”

* * *

The next couple of months were pretty busy for Marco. The solution the assistant brigade manager had proposed wasn’t perfect, but it was an acceptable one. Marco had realised that perhaps he could learn how to walk again, but the healing process would be long and painful. Being a firefighter in the meantime was very unrealistic and he refused to settle for doing chores at the fire station. And that was where the solution of the assistant brigade manager came in.

In a town a few miles over called Sabaody, the fire investigator of the fire station would retire in a few months. Marco could be re-educated to be an arson inspector. That way he could still contribute to the fire station, even if he had to walk with crutches. He would have to move, though, as Sabaody was a little too remote to travel daily, and because of his condition he wasn’t allowed to drive himself, so he had to take the bus.

He didn’t mind the moving much. One of his brothers lived in Sabaody, and he had even found a house in the same street. The advantage of having many brothers was that he didn’t have to hire movers. His house was furnished in no time.

When his house was done, his brothers persuaded Marco to throw a house warming party. He ended up inviting the whole street, because they would disturb them anyway; his brothers knew how to throw a party. Hiring movers would probably have been cheaper.

Marco studied for his fire investigation exam and his brother Izo came by every once in a while to test him. Marco actually enjoyed the education. By the time the old arson inspector was retired, Marco had passed the exam and was now a certified fire investigator. His former fire station had made all the arrangements; he could start working right away. By now, he could walk with walk with only one crutch.

The bus stopped only a few yards away from the Sabaody fire station, where the station manager was already waiting outside. He greeted Marco kindly and shook his hand. “Glad you could make it. I understood that your old fire station was sorry to see you go, but fortunately for us, we had a vacancy. It’s an honour to have the famous Phoenix working with us.”

“Please, I’m not a fireman anymore. Therefore the Phoenix is no more. I would appreciate it if I could keep my past in the past,” Marco answered.

The station manager seemed to be a bit disappointed, but reconciled with his wishes. “The Phoenix is a legend here, but I won’t tell you’re him. We do have our own little phoenix here, perhaps he’s inspired by you. A young – and reckless – firefighter who has saved a bunch of children from the fire already. But you’ll meet him eventually. Come, I will show you to your office.”

Marco followed him inside. They entered a large hall, where some fire trucks stood parked. A few volunteers were washing them and looked up curiously as the two men passed. The station manager led the way to the back of the hall, where a metal spiral staircase led to a small platform. The station manager noticed him looking and said apologetic: “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid your office is upstairs and we don’t have an elevator. You can manage that?”

One thing he’d learned from growing up with many brothers was never to show his weaknesses. So he nodded.

Slowly, he followed the manager up the stairs, clenching around the handrail and leaning on his crutch. God, he had to do this _every day_.

His office turned out to be a small room with a desk, computer and a file cabinet. He probably would have become claustrophobic, had not the window taken up almost the entire back wall. He overlooked the outside training area.

Three firefighters were working out at the moment. Two brown haired men were trying their climbing skills at a rope, while a black haired man was doing pull ups shirtless. Marco couldn’t see his face, but his eyes lingered on the man’s muscular body.

He knew he liked men for a long time, but he didn’t care for labels. The persons who he cared about knew about his sexual preference. Though he wasn’t ashamed about it, he didn’t proclaim it from the rooftops either. He had been in relationships with men, but he didn’t mind being alone.

This, however, was new. Usually he wasn’t this shallow, staring and drooling all over someone. He hadn’t even seen his face, dammit!

“These are some of my best guys,” the station manager commented, seemingly not having noticed Marco’s odd behaviour. “Johnson, Portgas and Smith. True heroes, those boys. Portgas is the person I was talking about just now, by the way.”

For some reason he knew that the man with the sexy back and ass had to have a more special last name then Johnson or Smith. “Who was he again?” he asked the manager casually.

The other man pointed to the black haired man. As if he knew, the young man called Portgas turned around. Marco noticed a tattoo on the man’s arm. It showed an A, a crossed out S, a C and an E. Ace?

His eyes slid from the man’s muscular arm to his equally muscular chest, shining with sweat. His mouth went dry when he saw the image of him licking it off in his mind’s eye. He forbade himself to let his look wander further down and instead focussed on the man’s face. And he froze.

Someone hated him. The whole universe probably. It wasn’t enough he almost died or that he had lost the job he loved. The same job with which he had tried so hard to make up for what he did. But no. He had to be punished more severely.

The man in front of him was none other than the boy he met ten years ago. Only now grown up. And gorgeous. He tried to convince himself the man just looked alike, but his freckled face was unmistakably the same. His black hair had grown longer and this time, instead of crying he was grinning.

Why was he working here?

* * *

When he turned around, Ace noticed two shadows behind the window of the office formally occupied by the arson inspector, before he had retired. He squinted, but couldn’t make out more than silhouettes.

Now that he thought about it, hadn’t he heard something about a new fire investigator? He was new, but supposedly very good at the job. Ace didn’t really care. He did wonder why a fairly young man – for he had heard the new guy was in his early thirties – would want to become a arson inspector, when he could be a fireman. He probably was a very boring guy.

* * *

The station manager looked at his watch. “We better get going. You can enjoy the view at any time.”

Marco gulped, but nothing indicated the man had noticed his special interest in fireman Portgas.

“I’ve asked everyone to gather at half past ten, so I can introduce you properly,” the manager continued.

Marco jerked his head up. “I don’t think that is necessary,” he started but the other man waved his objections away.

“Nonsense, we always welcome a new member of the family. Don’t worry, they don’t know about your past, though I still don’t understand why you want to keep it a secret. The boys will probably accept you more swiftly if they know you were one of them.”

Marco kept silent, but followed the station manager to the landing. “I probably should have done things the other way around,” the latter said scratching the back of his head, while eyeing Marco’s crutch.

Marco sighed deeply and started descending the stairs, trying to ignore the eyes staring at him. He hated to look so helpless, so he made his way down as fast as he could. He probably would regret it in the morning.

The station manager was either feared or very well liked – Marco suspected the latter – because a crowd had gathered in the hall. They didn’t seem very interested in him though, they probably only had come because they were asked to. Marco didn’t really care, after all, he wouldn’t work with them very often. He did feel a little overdressed though, as he was the only one wearing a suit.

“Boys,” the station manager started – even though there were female firefighters as well, “as you know Ralph has retired. So please welcome our new arson inspector, Marco Fenwick!”

An uninterested applause sounded. Marco didn’t listen. His eyes scanned the crowd for the young fireman.

Ace worked his way through to the front of the mob. Curiously, he looked at the new arson inspector. He was kind of handsome. His eyes were a bit droopy like he didn’t have enough sleep and an odd hairdo, reminding Ace somewhat of a pineapple. But who knew what kind of nice body that suit was hiding?

Only then he noticed the crutch the man was leaning on. That explained some things. Perhaps he wasn’t a coward, who became an arson inspector because he was too scared to be a fireman, but because he couldn’t be one. It was a turnoff anyhow, as Ace liked the people he hooked up with to be in good shape. And even being blond and having a nice ass – he just assumed, but would find out later – wouldn’t make up for that.

* * *

The worst about not being able to walk without crutches was that Marco couldn’t practice aikido on the level he was used to. In the town he previously lived in, he had been training on an advanced level and even trained a kids’ class. Now he was in a beginners group.

When he got home that night, he wasn’t tired after the training. He had helped a lot of the new students with adjusting their posture and holding the right grip, but he had hardly worked up a sweat. Still, he decided to take a shower. He made his way up the stairs and with a lot of effort as the training had taken its toll on his back, he managed to take off his clothes. While undressing, he let the impressions of his first day as arson inspector sink in.

Ace had been there – he had started calling him that in his head, he really should find out if that even was his name. The little boy he had met ten years ago had grown up into a fine young man. He didn’t seem to have recognised Marco, he had been just a boy back then and Marco had been wearing protective gear. So that was a bit of a relief, but what if Ace remembered him later on?

Marco had tried to convince himself that the heavy pounding of his heart was caused by the shock of recognising the man from his past, from what he had done. But he knew better. He was starting to really like the young man.

Warm water splashed down on him, while he recalled the images of Ace working out shirtless. That boyish grin when he turned around…

He could already feel his body responding. Maybe his feelings for Ace weren’t as strong as he feared. Maybe he just needed to get it out of his system. He closed his eyes and slowly reached down.

That morning he had forbidden himself to look lower than Ace’s torso, but now he gave his thoughts free rein. In his mind, Ace slowly and teasingly took off his pants and underwear, his cheeks flushed with arousal.

Marco started to stroke himself harder, his eyes closed an moaning softly. He imagined what it would be like to kiss Ace, to lick his abs, to hear him moan his name. ‘Marco…’

That was too easy. Panting, he leaned against the wall, while the shower washed away all evidence of his pleasure.

* * *

“We have a new arson inspector since today,” Ace said.

He got an uninterested grunt in response and Ace sighed. It was always like this after sex. Smoker preferred if he just left right after they fucked. He didn’t want to. He wanted to stay, talk and spend the night.

Their ‘arrangement’ of having sex had started a few weeks ago. Ace had met the captain of the police force after a fire and ended up giving him a blowjob in an alley. After that, they had hooked up many times, but it was always just sex. They didn’t even kiss.

They were supposed to be just fuck buddies, but Ace was starting to develop feelings for the man. He came to Smoker’s house often, even if the captain didn’t call him. But every time Smoker sent him away right after sex.

Well, today he wouldn’t take it lying down – in a matter of speaking. “You know, I just let you fuck me. You could show some interest in my life,” he pouted.

Smoker sighed and got up from the bed. “I thought that was what this arrangement was all about. But fine, I’ll bite. Please, tell me more.”

Ace decided to ignore the sarcastic tone and said, in an attempt to make the man jealous: “He’s about your age, I think, and pretty handsome. Tall, blond…” He looked at Smoker from the corner of his eye, who was busy lighting a large cigar. “And he doesn’t smoke like a chimney,” he added in a pout.

Smoker went with his hand through his grey-green hair. “If you like him so much, you should annoy him instead of me.”

Irritated, Ace started to dress himself. “You know what? Maybe I will!” And he slammed the door shut.

* * *

‘Getting it out of his system’ hadn’t worked, so Marco resolved in avoiding Ace. It wasn’t that difficult, as he had his own office where he could hide out. Only when there was a fire he needed to be careful, but fortunately, he didn’t have to do any investigating yet.

He tried to throw himself into his work – not all paperwork from the former inspector had been finished – but every now and then he caught himself gazing out of the window when Ace was working out. Well, who could blame him if the man insisted on being shirtless?

He cursed himself for behaving like a princess locked up in a tower gazing outside and returned to his computer screen.

The one major flaw in the design of the fire station was that the offices were upstairs, the canteen downstairs and that there was no elevator. Marco’s doctor had told him to take things easy and climb and descent the stairs as little as possible. Though Marco had lost his faith in the doctor, climbing the stairs was quite a hassle, so he limited his trips downstairs as much as possible. He also avoided lunch hours, to reduce the chance of walking into Ace.

After he had been staring at the computer screen for a few hours, he decided it was probably best to take a little walk. On the landing, he looked around, as he hated to be watched when he struggled to get downstairs. Fortunately, the hall was empty, as was the canteen when he finally arrived to get coffee.

He placed a cup in the coffee machine and pressed the button for an espresso. While the machine did its job, Marco leaned against the counter and placed his crutch next to him. A beep sounded, announcing his coffee was done. He turned around, knocking over his crutch with his elbow. He cursed when the bloody thing hit the floor with a clang. Walking was getting better every day, but it still took him ridiculously long to put on his pants in the morning, because bending over was still very difficult.

Sighing deeply, he started the annoying task of leaning down.

* * *

Ace hadn’t thought about his threat to Smoker in a few days, but he hadn’t paid Smoker a visit either. First the man should learn how to appreciate him, he thought haughty.

Ace felt a little sleepy today, so he decided to get some coffee. After all, he couldn’t be caught having a sleep attack at work. If they knew he was narcoleptic without taking medication, they wouldn’t let him be a firefighter anymore. He couldn’t stand that thought.

When he arrived in the canteen, it was empty except for the new arson inspector, who was currently having a lot of trouble picking up his crutch. It did give Ace a perfect chance to check out his ass, as he had resolved. Nothing wrong with that.

Ace remembered what he had said to Smoker. He had jumped to conclusions with the fire inspector; maybe he should give the man a chance.

“Here, let me help you with that.” He picked up the crutch and handed it to the other man.

For a second, the arson inspector looked at him as if he had seen a ghost, but then his expression changed and he smiled slightly. He grabbed the cup and offered Ace the coffee.

Ace grinned. “Thanks.”

The arson inspector presented the cup in his right hand. Quickly, Ace checked the ring finger, but the man wasn’t wearing a wedding ring or had a tan line there – not out of experience, of course. That was a good sign.

He took the cup, keeping his eye on the other man. The fire investigator wasn’t wearing a suit today like on the first day. His clothes were more casual, making him appear more relaxed. Ace had the chance to take a closer look at the other man. Now that he didn’t look so shocked anymore, his face looked a bit bored, but friendly. A bit of stubble decorated his chin. It was tempting to have a feel.

Ace saw the arson inspector’s eyes flick quickly up and down, taking Ace in. He was checking Ace out. _Another good sign_ , Ace thought, trying not to smirk.

He hadn’t heard the man speak yet, so he decided to strike up a conversation. “It’s Marco, right?” he asked, not being one to be overly polite. When Marco gave a nod, he continued: “I’m Ace.”

Marco looked like he was about to say something, when the siren started to wail. Ace sighed dramatically and then smiled at Marco. “Sorry, got to go. We’ll finish this conversation later.” With a wink, he left.

* * *

A few weeks went by, in which Ace didn’t get a chance to talk Marco. He had seen him a couple of times, but then either he was busy or Marco was, or he saw Marco only from a distance.

He didn’t have the time to flirt with him anyway. Recently, the town had been hit with a streak of fires, most which were determined – by Marco – to be cases of arson. Ace had to work overtime. More than once he had been woken up in the middle of the night and last night hadn’t been the first time he had to leave Smoker’s house in a hurry. Yes, they made up, sort of. Basically, Ace just came around again. They still didn’t really talk.

He yawned as he made his way to the canteen. There had been no fire tonight, but he had been training the whole day. He knew he should go home, since a narcoleptic attack was lurking around the corner, but he had to have coffee first, otherwise he was sure to fall asleep riding his motorcycle. He couldn’t have that. Again. His grandfather would have a fit.

When he entered the canteen, he saw an unknown man standing, drinking coffee. He had a brown pompadour like hairstyle and a black goatee on his chin. A scar ran around his left eye.

“You new here?” Ace asked, strolling over to the coffee machine.

The other man started to laugh. It worked contagious and Ace couldn’t suppress a smirk.

“Nah, I’m just a visitor. But I had to try the coffee, to see how awful it is.”

Ace snickered. “And what is your verdict?”

“Pretty bad.” The man made a face. Then he place his cup on the table and looked at Ace. He wasn’t checking him out, his look was just one of curiosity. “Aren’t you cold dressed like that?”

Ace looked down to his bare chest and shorts. “Nah. I’m never cold,” he said a little proudly.

The man stroked his goatee musing. Then suddenly, he smacked with his hand against his forehead. “Ah, I forgot. I’m Thatch.” He stuck out his hand.

“Ace.”

Thatch smirked. “Yeah, I can read.”

Ace looked at his arm and snickered.

“So, couldn’t the tattoo artist spell, or something?” Thatch pointed to the crossed out S on Ace’s arm.

Ace smiled wryly. “That’s what a lot of people think, but no. There’s actually a story behind that…”

Thatch shook his hands in a defensive gesture. “Hey, no worries. I’m not here to pry.”

Ace started from his thoughts. He had been about to spill the whole story, until Thatch reminded him they only just met. The man was really easy to talk to. “So, er, you were visiting someone?” he changed the subject.

“Ah, yes. Perhaps you can help me with that. I’m looking for my brother.”

“Is he a firefighter?” Ace asked, thinking hard if one of his buddies mentioned his brother stopping by.

“No, he’s the arson inspector. Name’s Marco.”

Ace’s head perked up. “Really? You’re his brother?”

Thatch looked like he just offended him. “What, don’t you see the resemblance? I know I’m a lot more handsome, but–”

“Not even the slightest resemblance,” Ace interrupted him deadpanned, always straightforward.

Thatch looked at him surprised for a second and then burst into laughter. “I like you, kid. You don’t beat around the bush. Marco and I are foster brothers, actually. All our brothers are adopted. Big family.”

Ace was a bit thrown off guard by all this. It wasn’t like he really imagined what Marco’s family would look like, but still he hadn’t expected this. He always got the impression Marco was rather alone. But maybe that was the result of growing up in a large family. He couldn’t help but smile now he learned a little more about Marco.

“I haven’t seen Marco today, but I’ve been busy. He has an office upstairs, second door on the left I think.”

Thatch nodded. “Thanks. See you around!” He waved and left the canteen.

Smiling, Ace grabbed a cup of coffee. That Thatch was one charismatic guy, very different from his brother. Well, from what Ace had seen.

He just took the last drink, when he heard voices coming down the stairs. He recognised Thatch’s, so the other must belong to Marco. He kind of liked it. Carefully not to be caught, he peeked around the corner of the doorpost.

If Ace had had any doubt they were siblings before, that fact was now confirmed by their bickering.

“Come on, I haven’t got all day,” Thatch teased. He was already standing at the bottom of the stairs, while his brother was barely halfway. Marco held on to the handrail, while he carefully lowered himself to the next step.

“Careful Thatch, even in this condition I can still kick your ass,” Marco grouched back.

“I’m sure you can, but the stairs seems to be beating you!”

Shooting insults back and forth, the two made their way to the exit. Thatch turned his head and winked at Ace. Marco followed his brother’s look. He stared at Ace for a moment, before exiting the building without saying a word.

Ace couldn’t resist and ran over to the window, watching the brothers leave. Apparently, Thatch had said something teasing again, because he gave Marco a playful punch against his shoulder. Marco’s eyebrow twitched annoyed. Suddenly, he threw his crutch aside and in a blink of an eye, he had laid his brother down on the ground. He knelt down next to him, placed Thatch’s hand against his own chest and twisted his hips. That had to hurt.

Ace stood in awe. He really had misjudged Marco. That was an aikido move he just did, wasn’t it? And he had to be good, to be able to floor a strong looking man like Thatch. So why the crutch?

But at least it appeared that that nice ass belonged to a person in better shape than he initially had thought.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“So, you like it here?” Thatch asked as Marco put on his seatbelt in the passenger seat.

Marco shrugged. “It’s a job.”

His brother was used to his lack of enthusiasm about, well, a lot of things, so he just asked: “Are you getting used to not almost dying on a daily basis?”

Marco shot him a dark look, but then sighed. “The job’s okay, I guess.” He didn’t mention that the job wasn’t very exciting, but made bearable by a certain raven haired firefighter.

Thatch hummed and put on his left direction indicator. They were headed to the man who adopted them, Edward Newgate, or Whitebeard as he was known to most, but his children all called him Pops. Marco hadn’t seen him since he moved, because it was nearly impossible to get to the house by buss. So when Thatch had offered to pick him up, he had seized the opportunity with both hands. He really needed to talk to Pops.

“You seem to have nice colleagues,” Thatch broke the silence again.

Marco looked at his brother suspiciously. “You’ve talked to my colleagues? Even I don’t do that.”

“You should. After all, you used to be a fireman.”

Marco shrugged.

“Well, anyway,” Thatch continued, “I was trying out the cheap rubbish they call coffee, when a young fireman entered the kitchen and we talked for a while. Cute kid. What was his name again? Ah, yes, Ace. He had it tattooed across his arm, like he might forget it.” He laughed.

Marco on the other hand sat frozen in his seat. Why, of all the people working in the fire station, had to run his brother into his secret crush?

Not even Marco had talked to Ace properly! And perhaps that was better for everyone, as now he was nothing to Ace but a colleague. But he knew Thatch, his brother was a very charismatic guy and had a lot of friends. He wasn’t into men, so Marco didn’t have to worry about them dating, but even if they just became friends… He couldn’t have that. Inevitably, he would come face to face with Ace again, something he was trying to avoid as much as possible not to be tempted to do things to the handsome firefighter.

But he couldn’t forbid Thatch to be friends with Ace, could he? His brother wouldn’t listen to him, even if he was the older one. Plus, he had to admit to himself reluctantly, there was another reason he didn’t want Ace and Thatch to be friends. A very childish one. He didn’t want Ace to like his brother more than him.

Being lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed Thatch studying him until he spoke again. “So, don’t you talk to your colleagues because you don’t like them or– Oh wait, I get it,” he interrupted himself, a grin on his face. “You’re too shy to talk to the kid because you like him!”

Fuck, Thatch knew him too well. They had always been close. Still, he wasn’t going to admit his brother was right, at least about the liking part. He wasn’t shy. So he just raised his eyebrow and looked at Thatch as if he was crazy. “Are you kiddin’? You said it yourself, he’s practically a kid. I’m way too old for him.”

He had tried to convince himself that was true.

“Age is no object in love,” Thatch said overly dramatically. “Plus,” he added in a teasing tone, “you totally like him. You do that jaw-clenching thing, which you also did when you were fourteen and you liked that boy. What was he called? Ah, I’m so bad with names.” He scratched the back of his head.

Marco shot him a deadly look. “I do not like this _kid_.” He put extra emphasis on the last word. “And would you please keep your eyes on the road? I didn’t survive that fire to die in a car crash.”

Thatch shook his head in disdain, but didn’t push the subject any longer. The rest of the way they sat in silence.

When the large house he grew up in loomed up in the distance, Marco’s mood picked up and he smiled a little. The mansion was large enough to be an orphanage, although Whitebeard had adopted Marco and his brothers, fifteen in total. After that, Whitebeard hadn’t been allowed to adopt anymore by the government, but then he had started building orphanages scattered around the country. Whitebeard always stuck with his children, as he always called them, even the ones not directly living under his care. Even after they had grown up.

Thatch parked the car and got Marco’s crutch out of the trunk. He never held a grudge for long and helped his brother up. “You missed your old home?” he asked.

Marco nodded and got a package out the back of the car. “It’s been a while since I saw Pops. How’s he doing?”

“Like usual. He has been ordered to stay in bed, because his health is failing according to the nurses, but he is lively as ever.”

Marco smirked, that sounded like the man he regarded as his father.

Together they walked to the house. Whitebeard’s room was on the top floor and there was no elevator, so it took Marco awfully long time to get there. Thatch was patient as ever and strolled next to him, even though Marco preferred that he just walked on ahead. He hated it when people had to wait for him.

Finally, they knocked on Whitebeard’s door and entered after they heard the old man’s voice loudly inviting them in.

“Hey Pops,” Marco greeted him. Whitebeard did look quite the same as he had last time, with his large, white moustache, wearing a black bandana and being bare-chested. He was hooked up to oxygen tubes and life support systems.

“It’s good to see you again, sons,” Whitebeard said with a large grin on his face. “Did you bring my ‘medicine’?”

Marco held up the wrapped bottle he was holding. “Of course. Just don’t let the nurses find out, okay? We’ll get scolded, since you’ve been ordered not to drink anymore.” He unwrapped the bottle of rum and handed it to his old man, who opened it and took a long drought. After that, he sighed contently and remarked: “Doctors and nurses are wrong all the time. You of all people should know that.”

Marco grinned, but then got serious again and shot Thatch a look.

His brother held up his hands in a defensive gesture. “Yeah yeah, I get it. You want a little father-son time. I’ll be in my old room.”

After Thatch had left, Marco sat down, staring at the floor and trying to find the right words to begin. Whitebeard waited patiently until he was ready, taking a sip of the booze every once in a while.

“I started as an arson inspector in Sabaody,” he finally begun. Whitebeard nodded, he already knew that of course, but Marco needed to start somewhere.

“The job’s fine,” he continued. “But–” He thought back to his first day as fire investigator, when he looked out of the window and first laid eyes on Ace. His broad back, muscular chest, that boyish smile…

“There’s a kid working there, a firefighter.” Fuck, this was hard, even though he knew Whitebeard wouldn’t judge. He would just listen and that was exactly what Marco needed. He wasn’t looking for advice, he just needed to get it off his chest. “I know him. I met him when he was a boy.” He took a deep breath. “The night _it_ happened.” He didn’t need to specify, Whitebeard knew what he was talking about. “I promised him…” He shook his head. “I don’t think he recognised me, but I know it’s him. Only now he’s grown up and–”

This seemed to catch Whitebeard’s attention. Edward Newgate looked up from his bottle and looked at his son curiously.

Marco sighed, but kept his eyes lowered. “He’s turned into quite a man. And apparently a great fireman.”

Silence fell in the room, only broken by the sound of Whitebeard swallowing the rum. Finally, his old man said: “Have you talked to him?”

Marco shook his head. “Thatch has,” he added bitterly.

Whitebeard nodded and took another sip, placing the bottle on his nightstand with a look bang. “You should as well.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you passing out advice, Pops?”

Whitebeard roared with laughter, filling the entire room. “Since you think you don’t want it, but definitely need it, son.”

Marco rose to his feet, shaking his head. “I’ll go get Thatch.” He exited the room and strolled over to his brother’s bedroom– which was at the same time his, they had shared a room growing up – where Thatch lay waiting on his bed.

“So, you’re done pouring out your heart?” Thatch asked teasing.

“He’s all yours,” Marco answered, sitting down on his own former bed. “But I must warn you, the old man is giving out advice now.”

* * *

Over the next couple of days, Whitebeard’s words kept haunting him. ‘ _Talk to him_ ,’ he had said, but Marco couldn’t. He couldn’t bear the thought of Ace hating him, even if the young man already did, he didn’t know Marco was the one he hated, if that still made sense. So he kept to himself, avoiding the freckled fireman.

His body didn’t agree with him, however, and often he caught himself gazing out the window when Ace was in the training area, either working out or doing something else, though Marco preferred to watch the former.

Well, he did, before he witnessed what happened today.

It was a very hot day. Not that that affected Marco, he was never really bothered by heat. So his work didn’t suffer from that. It was, however, very stuffy in his office. Marco rose and turned around to open the window. And froze in his tracks.

Aces had apparently decided it was too hot to work. A bunch of them had been washing the trucks when it suddenly had turned into a water fight. Laughing loudly, a certain freckled fireman came running outside, closely followed by a colleague holding a bucket of water. Ace tried to duck away, but the content of the bucket landed all over him. He stopped running, still grinning, and wiped the water and hair out of his face.

Marco stared down. Could Ace look any hotter? He was dripping with water, shirtless like usual and his pants hanging low on his hips. Slowly, Marco opened the window like he planned, his eyes never leaving Ace below and trying very hard not to drool.

Suddenly, Ace looked up to the window and grinned broadly.

Instinctively, Marco took a step back. He had been caught! He took a deep breath. No, he had just been opening the window and glanced outside by chance, where happened to be standing the hottest man he had ever laid eyes on.

Marco stumbled back to his chair – he often forgot to use his crutch lately – and tried to get his heartbeat under control. So much for avoiding Ace and not getting noticed.

* * *

Somehow, he kept forgetting that Marco was working there. It was almost like Marco was avoiding Ace, that little Ace saw of him. But that was probably a little paranoid. What reason could Marco possibly have for that?

There was something about him Ace found intriguing, though he didn’t know what it was exactly. All he knew was that he wanted the man to talk to him. He had heard his voice, and he liked it, but now that he thought about it, Marco had never spoken with him.

Deciding to make that happen, Ace went inside, still dripping with water. Marco had been in his office all day, so he probably wouldn’t mind some distraction, would he?

Ace grabbed a towel and made his way up the stairs, leaving the other firefighters with the water fight. He hardly ever had any business upstairs, sometimes he had to report himself to the station manager when he had overslept again, but there weren’t that many offices. In front of the second door on his left he stopped, hesitating for a moment. Did he really want to disturb Marco? He shook his head. Marco seemed nice enough, so he probably wouldn’t mind. And Ace wouldn’t stay long if he noticed he was unwanted. So he knocked on the door.

To his surprise no answer came. A bit disappointed he wanted to turn around, when he changed his mind and carefully tried the doorknob. The door wasn’t locked. Ace peered into the room. The office was smaller than that of the station manager, the only furniture were a desk and a file cabinet.

Curiously, Ace entered the office. Marco had a large window with a view on the training area. Ace just wondered if it wouldn’t be frustrating to watch other people work out when Marco himself had to walk with a crutch, when he noticed said crutch leaning against the wall and its owner nowhere in sight. Ace smiled slightly. So his walking was improving, eh?

The computer was still on. Ace sat down on the desk chair, realising too late he would leave a wet imprint. The screen showed some sort of report and looked pretty boring. Ace almost lost interest, when he noticed that the internet browser was opened as well. He snickered. If he had such an office all to himself, he probably would look at porn all day.

But oddly enough the page showed an article about Ace. Ace frowned and scanned the story. It had taken place right before Marco started working at this fire station. Ace had saved a little girl out of a building that was about collapse. The reported compared him to the legendary Phoenix. Ace smiled, but did wonder why Marco was interested in something like that.

He leaned back in the chair musing. Should he wait here for Marco?

Maybe he should strip and lie down on the desk naked. That would surprise Marco! He snickered. Marco had already showed some interest in Ace, with the news article and a few weeks ago by checking him out. Though that didn’t necessarily meant something. After all, he could have found the article coincidentally and even straight guys sometimes checked Ace out.

Shaking his head, Ace stood up. It was probably best to leave.

He hadn’t reached the door when suddenly a mobile phone started to vibrate. It first gave him a heart attack – after all, usually people took their phone with them – but then curiosity took over. It took him a while to locate the phone, as it lay buried under a pile of papers – probably the reason Marco had forgotten about it as well. It was a fairly old phone, but it did have a camera. To Ace’s surprise, the name on the screen was Thatch. Ace felt inclined to pick up for a moment, but that would probably get awkward. He wasn’t even supposed to be there.

After a while, the phone stopped vibrating. Ace picked up the device. Damn, he was nosy today. He listened, but didn’t hear any footsteps approach. Quickly, he opened the contact list. There were a lot of male names, probably all of Marco’s brothers. Thatch had told him they had many. When he saw the name of Thatch, he clicked on it. He decided to write the number down, perhaps it would come in handy.

He considered putting his own number in the phone, but dismissed that thought. Most people didn’t appreciate it when someone touched their stuff unasked-for. He did note down Marco’s number.

Marco still hadn’t come back. Ace got a bit reckless. Instead of leaving, he decided to view the photos on the phone. There weren’t that many. One showed what was obviously a birthday party. Marco was sitting at a table with a cake in front of him, looking not very amused. Ace tried to count the candles, to find out how old Marco was, when suddenly footsteps neared the door.

He cursed under his breath. Quickly, he placed the phone back where he found it and looked around to see if anything else looked disturbed. The seat of the chair was still a little wet.

The footsteps stopped in front of the door. Panicking, Ace dove under the desk and pulled the chair under it, so that the seat was hidden from plain sight.

The door opened and someone walked in. Ace tried to breathe as quietly as possible. He didn’t really know why he hid, he could just have said he was looking for Marco. It wasn’t even a lie. But now it would be weird to come out. From his hiding place, he couldn’t see the person who had come in.

Marco, or at least he assumed it was, stopped for a moment, like he felt something was off. Ace heard some tossing about on the desk; Marco was probably looking for his phone. Then footsteps walked away again and the door clicked shut.

Ace heaved a sigh of relief, he didn’t get caught. He scrambled to his feet and gave a last glance if he really had left everything like it was. Carefully, he peered around the door to the hallway. No one to be seen. Quickly, he slipped out of the office and walked downstairs as casually as possible. Man, all this sneaking around really made him have to pee.

“Hey Portgas, get your lazy ass over here!” one of his fellow firefighters yelled in his direction. Ace pointed to the men’s room. His colleague nodded and went back to work.

Ace strolled to the restroom. Fortunately, he didn’t see Marco anywhere. Until he opened the door of the men’s room.

Marco had his back turned to the door as he was standing in front of a urinal. He turned his head slightly when he heard someone coming in. Ace considered fleeing. He felt very guilty about snooping through Marco’s stuff, even if the man didn’t know it. But he had already been noticed, so he tried to act casually. He had to pee anyway.

He stood next to Marco, zipped open his pants and nodded to Marco. He earned a nod back along with a curious look. He resisted the urge to peek.

Marco flushed and walked to the sink. Ace was done as well, but pretended not to be, in order not to risk having a conversation. He was almost relieved when a sound of a phone vibrating sounded and Marco reached into his pocket. “Marco,” he answered it.

Ace zipped up – after all, how long can a guy be busy peeing? – and strolled over to the sink, watching Marco from the corner of his eye. Marco was looking at him, until he noticed Ace was looking back. “So it’s just the four of us, hm? Well, I’ll see you tonight at my place then,” he continued his phone conversation.

Ace pricked up his ears. Four of them? So that had to be Marco, and the person on the other line was probably Thatch, who tried to get hold of Marco again. Maybe the other two were brothers as well?

Why was he so nosy? Usually he didn’t stick his nose in other people’s business – except his friends’ love life of course. But Marco triggered something in him. He really wanted to find out more about this man.

“Don’t forget to bring the cards. I seem to have lost mine.” Marco peered in his direction and Ace realised he was washing his hands for a very long time. Hastily, he turned off the tab and dried off his hands.

“Yes, I’ll do that. See you tonight.”

The conversation had come to an end. Ace had to bite his tongue not to say: “Give Thatch my regards.” That would get awkward.

Marco put away his phone. This would be the perfect time to strike up a conversation. Only… Only he had no idea what to say. What the hell? He never had trouble talking to people!

Marco made his was through the door, looking back one more time before leaving Ace alone. Groaning, Ace let his head fall against the wall. What was happening to him?

Maybe it wasn’t too late! He ran out the door, but instead of Marco, he smashed into an angry Smith. “What the hell, Ace? I told you to hurry up! What the fuck, how long can a guy pee?” And he was dragged by his ear to the trucks, just in time to see Marco heading upstairs – slowly, but without his crutch.

“Were you just in the men’s room with Fenwick?” Johnson asked after Smith had let go of Ace’s ear and he was rubbing the sore spot.

Ace frowned. “Yeah, guy’s gotta pee.” He wasn’t shy about his sexual preferences, he liked both men and women, and his co-workers knew and accepted that. But Johnson made it sound like he jumped Marco in the restroom – which he wouldn’t have minded, had he had the courage.

“You should stay away from him,” Jones added, a woman with short, spiky hair.

He raised his eyebrow. “We were peeing, not having a whole heart-to-heart. And besides, what is so bad about him?” He looked at his fellow firefighters challenging, who all seemed to know something he didn’t. It annoyed him, but he was also dying to find out more about Marco.

Jones flicked her eyes to the stairs, as if to check if Marco didn’t come down again. “Well, for starters, no one knows what he did before he came here. His whole past is a mystery.”

“Maybe he likes to keep to himself,” Ace shrugged. He started to wash one of the fire trucks and tried to behave casual, but on the inside, he was getting nervous. He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Yeah, this is his first job as arson inspector, Manager said so,” Johnson added.

“So maybe he had a career switch.” Ace got a bit annoyed. He didn’t like his colleagues badmouthing Marco.

“Then why so secretive? Even if you’re pee-buddies now, I’m telling you, he is either in the witness protection programme or he is a criminal trying to hide it with a normal, boring job. And with a father like his, I’m inclined to think the latter,” Jones stated.

That confused him. “Father? What has his father to do with anything?”

“His father is Edward Newgate.”

He stared at her blackly.

“Whitebeard?”

That name did ring a bell, but he wasn’t sure where he knew it from. Still, even if this Whitebeard was bad news, it didn’t mean Marco was a criminal too. He just didn’t believe it.

“You guys are idiots,” he said, shaking his head.

But still something didn’t sit well with him. That afternoon he was off at four o’clock. Getting his motor cycle, he decided to take a detour before going home. The police station was about a fifteen-minute drive.

“Hey Smokey,” he said to Smoker while sitting down on the latter’s desk.

“What the hell, Portgas! Get outta here before anyone sees you!” Smoker hissed sharply.

“Relax, I here to see Gramps.”

Ace’s grandfather Garp was the chief of police in Sabaody. Smoker always was very private about whatever it was he and Ace had, but of course, he was even more careful when it came to Garp. After all, the chief would hardly like to find out that his captain was screwing his grandson, and wasn’t interested in a relationship whatsoever. Ace had often considered using his grandfather as an argument to get Smoker to date him. But lately he felt less and less inclined to do so, all because a certain blond who was getting inside his head.

“Then get your ass off my desk,” Smoker huffed. A few desks over, a dark haired young woman with red glasses looked up.

Ace grinned at her and jumped onto the floor. Then he turned to Smoker again. “I thought you liked looking at my ass.” He kept his voice down so only Smoker could hear, because even though teasing his fuck buddy was so much fun, he would like to stay alive. Which seemed less likely to happen, there was practically steam coming out of Smoker’s nose. So he quickly changed the subject: “Look, I just need you to check your database to see if someone is in there. Then I’ll get out of your hair.”

Grumbling, Smoker clicked on some things in his computer. “Alright, who are you looking for?”

“Marco Fenwick.”

“Fenwick with CK?”

He shrugged. He had no idea.

Smoker grunted again and typed in something. Then he shook his head. “No one by that name, in every spelling I could think off.”

Ace heaved a sigh of relief. Marco didn’t have a criminal record. So he was innocent, or just never caught, Ace couldn’t help but think. “What about Edward Newgate?”

Smoker looked up sharply and squinted suspiciously. “Why do you want to know about Whitebeard?”

“Just look him up, okay?” Ace said a bit annoyed. Then a teasing smile appeared on his face and he leaned in, whispering: “If you do as I ask, maybe I’ll stop by tonight.”

Smoker looked at him like he was hoping Ace would spontaneously burst into flames – which, if it would happen, would probably won’t harm Ace, for some reason flames never seemed to touch him. Giving up, Smoker turned to the computer again. “Sorry, the file is confidential.”

“Aw, come on! You can tell me.” Ace pouted and hoped he looked adorable.

Smoker sighed annoyed. “No, _I_ can’t get into the file, because it is confidential. I need more clearance.”

Ace chewed his lip a bit worried. Marco’s father did have a file, even a confidential one. That didn’t necessarily have something to do with Marco, but still…

“Now will you please leave?” It didn’t sound so much like a question, it was more of an order.

Ace snorted, but as he walked away, he was sure to wiggle his hips more than necessary. Just to annoy Smoker.

* * *

“I’ll raise twenty.” Thatch threw two chips of ten onto the small pile in the middle of the table, looking rather smug.

Marco sighed and folded, just like Izo and Vista, their brother had the worst poker face ever. It was a good thing they didn’t play for money, Thatch would have been broke by now. They stopped playing for money a long time ago, because it was either that, or Marco wasn’t allowed to play anymore. Unlike Thatch, he did have a poker face.

“So, how are things with your sexy fireman?” Thatch asked teasing while he showed his flush conceited and claimed the few chips that were in the jackpot.

Marco’s jaw tightened, though he tried to relax it while he shuffled the cards. He didn’t need Thatch to point out his annoying habit when it came to Ace. So he decided to ignore his brother and dealt the cards. His other siblings became very interested, however.

“What fireman?” Izo asked with shining eyes.

“Didn’t I tell you? When I picked up Marco a few days ago to take him to Pops, I met one of his colleagues. A young firefighter by the name of Ace.”

“Thatch,” Marco said warning.

“What does he look like?” Izo pretended he hadn’t heard Marco’s tone.

Thatch thought for a moment, as a straight man he wasn’t used to describe guys. “Tall, black hair, broad shouldered…” He grinned and slapped Marco on the back. “Just like our Marco likes it.”

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “Can we please just play, instead of discussing my love life?”

“Come on, he seemed like a nice kid. Why don’t you ask him out?”

He sighed. “I have my reasons.”

“Is it ‘cause of your accident? ‘Cause you’re almost able to walk again without crutches,” Izo meddled in. He smiled mischievously. “And if there is something wrong _down there_ , there are always pills you could take…”

A vein in his forehead started to throb dangerously.

“And what fireman wouldn’t want you?” Thatch continued, oblivious to Marco’s murder tendencies. “You’re the king of firefighters. You’re the Phoenix, for Pete’s sake!”

His fist slammed down on the table, making the chips rattle together. “Listen carefully, I’m not the Phoenix anymore! Not after my accident. Do you understand? The Phoenix is dead!”

Silence filled the room. Both Izo and Thatch looked to the table pouting. Vista, who had kept aloof from the conversation so far, plucked his large black moustache pensive. “Isn’t it a distinctive quality of a phoenix that it can get reborn in fire?”

“Yeah,” Thatch grinned and looked at Marco with shining eyes. “Or perhaps in the arms of a hot fireman.”


	3. Chapter 3

“You’re quiet tonight.”

Ace didn’t turn to Smoker. He just got up and started to dress himself. “I thought you liked that,” he said emotionlessly.

“Oh, I’m enjoying the silence alright. It’s just unusual.”

Ace sat down on the bed again with a sigh after buttoning up his pants, still not looking at Smoker. Smoker grunted and took a long draught from his cigar. “Fine, I’ll bite. But this is the only time I’ll ask you this, understood?”

Ace nodded obediently, knowing how rare this occasion was and desperately wanting to make use of it.

“What’s on your mind?”

He managed to wait a second before bursting out: “There’s this guy–”

Smoker groaned. “Of course there is.”

“Would you shut up and let me talk?” Ace snapped.

Smoker glared at him, but let him continue.

“He’s working at the fire station for a while now. It’s not that I _like_ him...” Smoker rolled his eyes, but didn’t interrupt him. “But I can’t talk to him,” Ace finally said.

“Since when do you have trouble talking to people? When we first met, the first thing you asked me was: ‘Can I suck your cock?’ And naive as I was, I said yes. Maybe you can try that as well on this poor bastard.”

Now it was Ace’s turn to glare. “Shut up, that’s not… entirely true. I said ‘hi’ first.” He let himself fall back on the bed. “Besides, he doesn’t seem like the type that’s into just sex. And I’m… I’m not sure I want that with him either.”

Smoker looked at him sceptically. “Why, is our free spirit Ace finally ready to have a relationship?”

“You’re one to talk.”

“I’m married to the job.”

Ace snorted. “And what makes that me, your mistress?”

The smirk on Smoker’s face was somewhat unsettling, so Ace continued: “Anyway, I just want to know more about him. I didn’t find much out snooping around his office…”

“You know I’m a cop, right? I could arrest you for breaking in,” Smoker remarked.

“Yeah, but I know you won’t do that. Since my ass will come with me to jail,” he said teasingly, sitting down on Smoker’s chest. Smoker was just about made a – presumably – snide remark, when Ace’s head snapped up. “Wait, you’re a cop!”

Smoker raised an eyebrow. “Are you just realising this now?”

“No, no, no! But you can access people’s files, right? Personal stuff, like when and where he’s born and such?” He bounced up and down excitedly, much to Smoker’s chagrin.

“Stop using me like a damn trampoline! And yes, I can, if someone’s under investigation. But I’m not going to check out your boyfriend-to-be.”

“He’s not… Anyway, why not?” Ace pouted.

Smoker sighed and sat up, causing Ace to fall backwards on the bed. “Because I know colleagues who have done that with their partners. But it always transpires and it is never appreciated. If you want to know something about this guy, ask him.”

Ace sighed, but nodded anyway. Smoker was probably right. He already felt guilty after snooping around in Marco’s office, he wouldn’t be able to look the man in the eye if he let Smoker figure out things about him.

Smoker looked down on him, shaking his head. “You’re a brat. Now, take off those damn pants.”

* * *

Slowly, Marco lowered himself, his front leg slightly bent, the rear one stretched and his back straight. The dojo was currently empty aside from him. There were only so many aikido movements he could practice without a partner, but he had noticed that these kind of exercises had helped improve his walking and they helped him clear his head. Which he definitely needed right now.

The poker game from the previous night played back in his head. Thatch and Izo had gone on and on about his crush on Ace, teasing him and basically making his life hell. He had hoped – in vain – that Vista would be on his side, but the man was a romantic after all. Marco had tried to change the subject, but when that didn’t work he had cleaned them all out, in revenge.

At work, he hadn’t been able to concentrate, the words of his brothers still haunting him. This was the first time today he could just relax.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, not having realised he had closed them. Ten pair of curious looking eyes stared at him. He cleared his throat and straightened. The ten children still looked at him. “My apologies, it seems like I lost track of time. Good luck with your training.” He bowed at them for good measure – one has to set an example for the kids – and left the mats. He was just on his way to the changing rooms, when one of the kids said: “But Sensei isn’t here yet.”

He stopped and turned around. “Okay, who’s your Sensei?”

“Isoka-san,” the girl who had spoken before said.

He nodded. “So you practice aikido as well. That’s good. I’ll go see if I can find her.”

“But we only have an hour to train,” another girl said pouting.

“Can’t you start the training? Until Sensei is here?” a third asked. “You’re good, right?”

Marco was surprised to say the least. These kids wanted him to train them? “I don’t know…”

“Please, Sensei.”

He looked down at the small boy that pulled on his hakama. He had black hair, freckles and big brown eyes that looked at him pleading. The resemblance he bore with a young Ace was dazzling. He swallowed. “A-alright. I’ll help you warm up and put you to work and after that I’ll try to find your _real_ Sensei.”

Happily, the children skipped over to the mats, while he took position opposite of them. Isoka had drilled them well, they sat down on their knees and bowed to him as he did the same for them, without having to tell them so. He gestured them to rise and introduced himself.

During the warming up, he studied the children as they copied all of his movements. The group consisted of seven girls and three boys between the ages of ten and twelve. His eyes lingered on the boy that looked like Ace. He had to remind himself this wasn’t the boy he met ten years ago. That boy was all grown up now. This boy however was very clumsy. He almost hit his neighbour in the face when they were loosening their shoulders and he fell on his behind when Marco made them stretch. Marco decided that was enough warming up for one day.

“We’ll start simple, with _ikkyo omote_. The first technique, to the front side,” he explained to the confused looking faces. He motioned the girl who had spoken up first to come forward. He had studied them during the warming up and quickly came to the conclusion that it was a mixed group, level wise. This girl seemed confident in the movements, so she probably practiced aikido for a while.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Mira.”

The others laughed a little when he asked her to attack him, after all, she hardly reached his waist in height. He carefully showed the movements, but when he noticed she was indeed advanced he sped up a little. And to demonstrate aikido wasn’t about strength, he grabbed her wrist and made her floor him.

The technique seemed to ring bells and the kids paired up to practice. After he had given some additional instructions here and there and he was sure all children could practice, he went to look for Isoka. But before he could reach the door, he noticed a young woman.

“I was just going to tell them their training was cancelled as Isoka has broken her hip,” she said when Marco approached. “But I see you already took over. Even _I_ couldn’t have found a replacement faster.”

“I only helped them warm up and put them to work, Nojiko,” he answered. “I haven’t taken over.”

Nojiko brushed aside a lock of violet hair. “So you’re just going to leave them like this? Look at them!”

Marco turned to the mats. The children had stopped their practice and all stared at him. “Are you leaving, Marco-sensei?” Mira asked.

He exchanged a look with Nojiko. “It seems like Isoka can’t make it to training today.”

“Does that mean you will train us for the whole hour?” the freckled boy asked.

He had to remind himself over and over again this wasn’t Ace, otherwise he would have done anything the boy asked. He looked at Nojiko again.

The woman sighed. “You can’t leave them and I don’t have a replacement. So please, just train them. Only for today.”

He looked at the children again, already knowing he was defeated. The big brother in him wouldn’t allow him to let those kids down. “It seems I’ll be your sensei for today,” he sighed. As he made his way to the mats again, he didn’t miss Nojiko’s triumphant smile.

Nojiko left them to the training and Marco had to admit to himself he actually enjoyed teaching. At first, he didn’t really know what to do with the girls. His whole live had revolved around the male sex, both his brothers and his lovers. But as they proceeded, he noticed there weren’t that many differences when it came to teaching. Their time was up before he knew it. After bowing, he sent them away, following the boys to the changing room.

The boys used the opportunity to ask him all kinds of questions, how long he had been practicing aikido, what his worst injury had been, if he had ever used aikido moves outside the dojo. He answered all their questions patiently, until it was getting late and he had to urge them to hurry up because their parents were waiting.

When he came out of the changing room, Nojiko was waiting for him. “So, how did you like it?” she asked, with a smile that told she already knew.

He looked at her emotionlessly. “You tricked me.”

“Into what? I merely asked you to take over one class. Which reminds me,” she continued. “Would you mind teaching next week’s class as well? And probably the week after. Just until Isoka is better.”

He still stared at her. Some of the children ran by, calling: “Bye, Marco-sensei!” He looked at Nojiko again. “You tricked me,” he repeated.

She smiled devilishly. “I’ll take that as a yes. And I’ll have my sister draw you up a contract. See you next week.”

* * *

The doorbell rang, startling him awake. He groaned and got up from the couch. Stupid narcolepsy. On the doorstep, a young woman was standing with short violet hair. _Oh, that’s right, Nami had said her sister would stop by_ , he thought. Nami had asked him in her own demanding way to keep it in his pants. Whatever, he wasn’t interested in some chick.

He let Nami’s sister – Nojiko, if he recalled correctly – pass by him. He didn’t really know why Nami had asked her sister to come to his and Luffy’s house. His brother wasn’t even home, but as his girlfriend, Nami claimed the right to be there. It wasn’t that Ace minded that much, he just didn’t get it. Though he had never been there, Nami was supposed to have an awesome apartment.

He lay back lazily on the couch, listening to the girls talking. No surprise in a conversation including Nami, it was about money.

“I appreciate you doing this so quickly. I don’t want him backing out of it,” Nojiko said.

“Sure, sure. You know my hourly rate.”

Ace almost burst into laughter. Of course, it was typically Nami to charge even family.

“These kinds of contracts I make in my sleep,” Nami continued. “Don’t worry, once he signs, he’s yours.” She typed in something on her laptop.

“You’re so evil. Then again, I need him, there aren’t that many aikidoka in our dojo.”

At the word ‘aikidoka’, his ears perked up. “You work at a dojo?” he asked, hopping of the couch.

Nojiko looked at him a little surprised. “Yes, I’m vice-president of our dojo.”

“Not to mention a brown-belt karateka,” Nami added.

Instinctively, he took a step back, but his curiosity got the better of him. “Do… Do you know Marco?” he asked carefully.

She raised an eyebrow. “I know several.”

He sighed. “Marco Fenwick? He practices aikido…”

“Oh yes, I know him.” She pointed at the laptop screen. “As a matter of fact, Nami is currently drawing up a contract for him.”

“Contract?” Pensively, he stared at the screen. The document was filled with legal terms, half of the words he didn’t know.

“I… persuaded him into taking over a kiddie class,” Nojiko explained.

If she was anything like her sister, Ace didn’t want to think of what ‘persuasion’ technique Nojiko had used. He shivered. Poor Marco.

Still thinking of Marco, he returned to his place on the couch. He imaged Marco teaching children. It was oddly fitting. He would like to see it sometime.

* * *

Marco met Nojiko the next day for coffee. How she had managed to get the contract this soon he didn’t know, but the first thing she did was push it under his nose, not allowing him to back out. He wasn’t planning on that anyway. He had enjoyed training the kids, perhaps because of his brotherly instinct.

She kept smiling a little too friendly, so he resolved into reading the contract very carefully. He was surprised to see he was actually getting paid – not much, but still. For the rest, the contract consisted of many legal words, apparently an ironclad contract. He signed anyway. What could be the worst he would agree to?

* * *

During his lunch break, Ace was hanging out with Smith, Johnson and Jones in the canteen, like usual. He didn’t really know what to say to them though. He still wasn’t happy about how they gossiped about Marco, even though the part about Marco’s dad might be true.

A couple of days had gone by and he hadn’t followed up Smoker’s advice to talk to Marco. What should he say? Ask why his father had a record?

He was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice his friends had fallen silent when Marco entered the canteen. He only looked up when he heard the buzzing sound of the coffee machine. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed Marco. Marco had turned his back toward the firefighters, but somehow Ace got the feeling he had noticed how it had become quiet when he entered. When his coffee was done, Marco turned around, glanced over at the table where the firefighters and left the canteen.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Ace turned to his colleagues. “What the hell was that?”

Jones and Johnson exchanged a look. “We have some new information,” the latter said after a moment of silence.

Ace snorted. “You mean gossip.”

“Call it what you like. Do you wanna know or what?”

He sighed. “Fine, tell me.”

They leaned in, like this intimate setting would help if Marco decided to enter again. “According to my source,” Johnson started in a conspiring tone, “he is trying to stay under the radar because he ‘has taken care of someone’.”

Ace burst into laughter. “What’s this, some kind of Mafia film? He’s not the Godfather, you know.”

“Maybe his dad is,” Jones objected.

Ace shook his head. “Well, I know for a fact that Marco doesn’t have a criminal record.” When they looked at him questioning, he explained shrugging: “I know a cop.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean he didn’t kill anyone,” Johnson protested. “Just that he hasn’t been caught.”

Ace shook his head in disdain. “I know this isn’t the most exiting town there is, but don’t you think this goes a bit far? Besides, he’s an aikidoka.”

His colleagues looked at him like he just said he was going to wear a tutu tomorrow. “He practices aikido.” Still no sign of comprehension. He sighed. “That’s a Japanese self-defence sport, which is very gentle. No kicking and punching.” _Thank you, Zoro and your obsession with martial arts._

“That still doesn’t mean anything,” Johnson said stubbornly. Apparently, he was convinced they lived in some kind of mobster movie.

“Next thing you’re telling me our own arson inspector has arranged for this succession of arson cases,” Ace said sarcastically. The minute he said it he knew he had brought a new gossip into the world.

* * *

Between the gossips that flew around in the fire station and his own thoughts, Ace had no idea what his feelings were towards Marco. When Smoker had suggested he was interested in a relationship with Marco he hadn’t denied it, but he wasn’t sure that was the case either. He didn’t like it how the other firefighters talked about Marco, but that was the curse of being the new guy, he supposed. Marco either didn’t know or didn’t care they were talking about him, he probably preferred to mind his own business.

But to find out how he felt, Ace decided he should talk about it with someone. But who? His brother understood as much from love and attraction as he did from rocket science, despite having a girlfriend. Said girlfriend would only use the new knowledge to her advantage, which probably meant for him to get blackmailed.

He had tried to talk to Zoro, one of his closest friends, but had chosen an inconvenient timing, as they were sitting in a bar drinking and someone had said something or looked at Zoro in the wrong way, so they ended up in a bar fight. It was quite a memorable night – and had been the most fun he had in a while – but not for the reason he intended. On further consideration, Zoro was perhaps not the best person to talk to. He knew Ace too well – like Smoker – and would probably suggest to just fuck Marco and stop whining about it. Which only left one person.

The cemetery was looking very peaceful with the sun shining on it. Ace came here every once in a while along with Luffy to visit a certain grave. His brother skipped next to him as they made their way to the place they had come to since they were children. Before a simple marble stone they stopped.

Sabo, their mutual childhood friend, had died young, years ago. His death had been very unexpected and it had taken long for Ace to accept his best friend was no longer with them.

Luffy placed the plate of food on top of the stone, a tribute to the many dine-‘n-dashes they had done as a child, the only food the D-brothers could ever leave alone. Sabo wouldn’t have want flowers anyway. Ace and Luffy made the food themselves, they had put their everything in the dish, and still it came out burned. Maybe they should have hired a chef.

Oddly enough, there was lying a bouquet of flowers before the gravestone. They had found them more often, sometimes fresh, sometimes withered. Neither of them knew who brought the flowers. It certainly weren’t Sabo’s parents, as they had left him for dead even before he died.

Still, this wasn’t the time to dwell on the mysterious flower delivery person. Ace sat down cross-legged and looked at his brother. Luffy nodded, this was one of the few moments he had a serious face. At most visits to Sabo’s grave, Ace wanted time alone to talk to their deceased friend. Luffy strolled away, probably going to raid the snack bar across the street.

“So, I’m back,” Ace started. “Things are going well. I see Smoker from time to time. Yes still,” he said a bit defensively. Sabo would disapprove of his relationship with Smoker for sure. Not too long ago he sat in the same spot pouring out his heart on how Smoker was only interested in sex. “I don’t want to date him anymore. This… This is about another guy.”

He wondered how Sabo would have responded. He wouldn’t have snorted like Smoker. Sabo had always been able to read Ace like a book, and it would have been clear something about this guy bothered Ace.

“Okay, so there is this new guy at work,” he continued. “The new arson inspector. I suppose he’s kinda handsome. And has a nice ass. But I don’t think I like him or anything. Not like that. There’s just something about him… I don’t know, he just interests, no, intrigues me. It’s like we’ve met before, but I don’t know when and why. I’m probably just being stupid,” he interrupted himself. “You know? Maybe Smoker and Zoro are right, I should just fuck him and get it out of my system. Hell, it’s starting to get an obsession.” He laughed at himself. “And if I can’t remember where we met, it can’t have been important, right?” He got up and dusted off his clothes. “Thanks for the talk. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. Enjoy your food, okay? Luffy and I worked really hard on that.” He had just turned around when he remembered something. “Oh, that reminds me. We have to buy a new fire extinguisher.”

* * *

Sweaty and tired, Ace came back into the fire station. It was a few days after his visit to Sabo’s grave. He hadn’t seen Marco since, nor fucked him, obviously. He started to doubt whether or not that was a good idea anyways. There was just something about that man that triggered something in Ace’s subconscious, though he couldn’t really grasp it. Or maybe he was just imagining it. He probably just needed a vacation or something.

He was just on his way to hit the showers, when he noticed a familiar head of brown hair. Thatch was accompanied by a person dressed as a geisha, and when he took a better look, he noticed it was a man. Grinning from ear to ear, he walked up to the brothers, as he assumed they were. “Thatch, long time no see.”

“You’re gorgeous!” Before Thatch could say anything, the other man stepped forward and inspected him from head to foot.

Ace grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“You have to let me draw you sometime.”

Thatch snickered seeing Ace’s confused face. “Ace, my brother Izo. Izo, this is Ace.”

Izo looked from Ace to his brother. “You mean–”

“Yes.”

Still confused, Ace cleared his throat. “So, what ya doing here? I haven’t seen Marco come in today.”

“Oh, but we’re not here for him.” Thatch produced three tickets out of his jacket.

“No freaking way!” Ace snatched the vouchers out of his hand to confirm what he thought they were, namely tickets to a wrestle match he had been dying to go to. “This fight is sold out for months! How did you get these?”

“I know a guy who knows a guy,” Thatch said shrugging.

Ace stared at the tickets greedily one more time before giving them back. “Well, like I said, Marco isn’t here today.”

“I know he isn’t. He has something to take care of.”

Ace’s head snapped up. Was this choice of words really a coincidence or was it not something but _someone_ that had to be taken care of? He shrugged off those thoughts. He really shouldn’t listen to gossip.

“So you’re in?”

That snapped him back into reality. “Are you serious? Don’t toy with me!”

Thatch grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes. We’ll pick you up here tonight at seven.”

* * *

They entered a bar. After the fight, Thatch and Izo hadn’t stopped joking about Ace’s enthusiasm. He didn’t care, it had been a long time he had watched a live wresting match. He, Luffy and Zoro had agreed to go together and he had been pretty bummed when it was sold out. He couldn’t wait to rub it in their faces.

Thatch went to get drinks while Ace and Izo looked for a place to sit. They found a table in the corner where it wasn’t too crowded. Thatch joined them, carrying two beers and a mineral water, as Izo would drive back.

Ace thanked him and took a long draught of his beer. Then he heaved a content sigh and asked: “You go to these fights often?”

“Sometimes,” Thatch answered playing with his bottle. “We try to stay in touch as much as we can, but you know how things like these go.”

Ace nodded and let the subject rest. When he looked around, he noticed that their table was getting quite a few stares. It was to be expected, after all, their little group consisted of a cross-dressing man looking like a geisha, a man with a brown pompadour hairstyle and last but not least Ace himself, as always neglecting to wear a shirt. “If Marco had come, he would be the least the odd man out,” he mused.

Ace only realised he had said it out loud when Thatch started to laugh. “You mean ‘cause of the staring? We’re used to that by now. But if we embarrass you…” he added teasing.

“Don’t be stupid. I’m used to staring as well, especially when I go to a restaurant with my brother.” At that moment, a plate of French fries was placed on the table. Ace heard his stomach growl and he attacked the food. Thatch laughed loudly, but Izo looked at Ace disapproving.

“Where are you table manners?”

“Ah, just let the boy eat. But I get your point about the staring in restaurants,” Thatch said grinning.

Ace wiped his mouth, a little embarrassed. “My brother’s worse!”

That made both brothers laugh.

When they had calmed down a bit, Ace asked carefully: “So, what’s Marco doing, anyway?”

Thatch took a sip of his beer and exchanged a look with Izo, making Ace feel somewhat uncomfortable. “Why you wanna know?”

“Just…” He was looking for the right words. “There are some rumours going around in the fire station about him. I know they’re stupid, but the way you said it just now was making it sound like they could possibly be true…”

“What kind of rumours?” Izo asked sharply, immediate in protective brother modus.

The conversation was getting more awkward by the minute. Even the ever-cheerful Thatch was serious now.

“I-it’s just that we don’t know much about him and he’s no fireman…” Again the exchange of looks. “I mean, I _know_ he doesn’t have a criminal record–”

“How do you _know_ that?” Izo asked with a look that could penetrate his soul. He hadn’t missed the emphasis Ace put on the word.

If the earth was ever planning on swallowing him up, now would be the prefect time. “I may have asked… a friend at the police station to check that out,” he said practically inaudible.

Izo sprung up, his chair clashing backwards on the floor. “You did what?! Don’t you think that Marco deserves a little more credit than that?”

If they had enough attention before, right now everyone in the bar was staring at them. Ace tried to make himself as small as possible, which was quite hard for a guy his size. He was glad he didn’t mention he had tried to check out Whitebeard as well. Smoker had been right, checking someone’s files unasked for always came out and was never appreciated.

Fortunately, Thatch was still his calm self. “Don’t be too hard on the kid,” he said to Izo. “After all, he doesn’t know Marco like we do.” He winked at Ace, who had no idea what that meant, but was happy it happened anyway. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Just be glad _I_ don’t beat you up about it,” Izo muttered while he sat down again.

Slowly, everyone went back to their own business and the bar filled with chatter again after it had fallen silent during Izo’s outburst.

Ace still felt miserable though. He had violated Marco’s privacy, even more than when he had been snooping around his office. “I’m really sorry.”

“Say that to Marco.” Suddenly, the grumpy look disappeared from Izo’s face and a mischievous grin appeared. “Yes, Marco should punish you. After all, you’ve been bad, so you deserve a good spanking…”

Ace looked at Thatch, who shook his head grinning. “Don’t listen to him. He likes it kinky.”

Izo snorted, but Ace started to laugh.

“You still haven’t told what I made it sound like, though,” Thatch suddenly remembered.

It felt like a rock suddenly dropped on his stomach. He had hoped they were done with this subject. He didn’t want the brothers to hate him. “Never mind, okay? It’s stupid.”

“Just tell us. Izo won’t kill you, right?” Thatch gave his brother a piercing look.

“Okay.” He sighed. “Some of the firefighters – not me, of course – seem to be convinced that… Marco has killed someone.” The end of the sentence sounded more like a question.

Much to his dread, Thatch didn’t start laughing, but exchanged yet again a look with Izo. “Where do this people get their information?” the latter asked musing, making Ace feel a little relieved.

“Just don’t believe everything you hear,” Thatch reassured him. “Marco’s a great guy.”

“He has to be. With brothers like you guys.”

Thatch burst into laughter, while Izo said: “Hey, don’t suck up to _us_ if you want to get in Marco’s pa– Ouch!”

Thatch pretended he didn’t just jammed his elbow between Izo’s ribs and stretched himself. “Ah, that reminds me. I wanted to ask you guys something about a girl.”

Izo groaned and let his head fall on the table. “Not you and your woman-trouble again.”

“That’s right, you’re no help. Ace, help me out. You like girls, right?”

Ace was caught a bit off guard by the sudden change of topic. Were they trying to find out what was his sexual preference? Nah, that wouldn’t be it. Way to unsubtle. “Sure,” he said. When the brothers looked at each other again, Ace continued: “Though it’s been a while since I dated a woman–”

He barely finished his sentence when Izo slammed his hand on the table and laughed triumphant. “I told you he was bi! Pay up.”

So they were trying to find out what he liked.

“That doesn’t mean anything! Maybe he just hasn’t dated in a while.”

They looked at him expectantly. He scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed by their sudden attention for his sexuality. “No, I’m bi.”

Grumbling, Thatch got his wallet and pushed some bills into Izo hand. Ace stared at them disbelieving. “You guys bet on whether I like to sleep with guys or girls? You could have asked.”

“Well, we were going to get the answer out of you _subtly_.” Izo looked at Thatch accusingly. “But somehow I forgot that this idiot is as subtle as a bull in a china shop. You should see him playing poker. If he had good cards, you can read that from his face. We stopped playing for money for that exact reason.”

“That, and otherwise we wouldn’t let Marco play anymore. The guy’s got a brilliant poker face,” Thatch told Ace.

It didn’t surprise him much, Marco’s face was unreadable.

“You should join in.”

Thatch’s words came as a surprise. “At your poker night? Isn’t that a family thing?” he asked carefully.

“Don’t worry about that. If you would meet Pops, he would declare you his son right away, even if you were to take his head or something.”

“Why would I want to harm your dad?” Ace asked confused. He looked at Izo, who pointed subtly – _he_ was able to do that – to Thatch’s beer. Ace nodded.

“Well, next poker night is in two weeks.” Thatch grinned and said with a wink: “And I’ll make sure Marco is there.”


	4. Chapter 4

“You did what?!”

On the other end of the line, Thatch grinned. “Hey, don’t blame me. You couldn’t make it and we had three tickets.”

Annoyed, Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have you counted our brothers lately? You could have easily invited someone else!”

“That’s true. But blame Izo, he wanted to see the guy that gets you all weak in the knees for himself,” his brother answered teasing.

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. It was a good thing they talked over the phone and not in the same room, for Thatch at any rate. Usually, he tried to solve things without violence, as he was taught in aikido, but both Izo and Thatch gave him serious murder tendencies. “Didn’t I tell you not to meddle in my love life? Stop trying to become friends with him, because nothing is going to happen!”

“Oh?” Thatch sounded a bit too innocently. “Because thanks to Izo and me, we have some information that might interest you.”

He waited purposely, much to Marco’s annoyance. Still, he had to admit he was intrigued. What could they have found out? Did Ace knew who he was?

“Fine. Tell me.” He tried to sound uninterested, but his heart was beating in his chest.

“First promise me not to kill me the next time you see me.”

Marco sighed. Was he getting this predictable? “Alright. I promise.”

“Okay, you ready?” When his brother grunted irritated, Thatch hastily continued: “He’s bi.”

Marco fell silent. His heartbeat was going fast. He had tried to convince himself Ace was straight, a good reason for him not to try anything, were he not able to resist the temptation that was Ace. But if he was bi that meant Marco stood a chance and… No, he wouldn’t go there. He wouldn’t try anything. He couldn’t.

“So, now you can finally ask him out,” Thatch said like he had just fixed everything.

Marco gritted his teeth. “You think I’m shy? I have my reasons not to ask him out, and I don’t need your help with that. You make it sound like I’m in love with him. I’m not. He’s just a kid that happens to work with me. Quit your meddling!”

With that, he hung up. He felt bad for yelling at Thatch like that. His brother had no idea how he felt and how his conflicting feelings ate him up inside. He hated it and cursed himself for acting like a teenager. Why was this happening to him?

* * *

“Do I have to be naked?”

“Sit still. I can’t work with you squirming.”

“It’s taking so long…”

“Quit whining. It takes time to create art.”

Ace sighed. Posing had sounded like a lot of fun. He had been a little surprised when Izo had requested him to take off his clothes – but what the hell, he wasn’t shy. He was a glad he wasn’t one to get cold, not that he had anything to worry about. But it felt like he had been posing for hours. Granted, he was allowed to take a different pose every once in a while, when Izo started on a new charcoal drawing, but Izo hadn’t shown him anything yet.

He stretched and yawned, immediately to be reprimanded by Izo and taking his former position reluctantly. He did trust Izo’s skills, he had seen other drawings and paintings, which were really good. Lots of naked people, though. Izo was an artist, which kind of explained his eccentric look.

Izo sketched some extra lines and then eyed his work scrutinising. Finally, he nodded. “Okay, I’m done.”

Excitedly, Ace bounced over to him, uncaring about the fact he was still naked. Peering over Izo’s shoulder, he whistled admiringly. “Wow, I’m hot!”

Izo pursed his lips. “Usually I would say I made you look hot, but I can’t deny the obvious.”

Ace grinned and leafed though the drawings. Izo had talent; he had drawn Ace life like, everything in the right proportion.

“You can pick one out if you like, but I also like to exhibit a few of them, if that’s okay with you,” Izo said.

Ace grinned from ear to ear. “Sure. I’ve never been on display before.”

* * *

Time flew by and before he knew it, the poker evening came. In the meantime, Ace still hadn’t talked to Marco. He had considered it, he really had. Just to walk up to Marco and say: “So your brother has invited me to your poker night. That’s cool, right?” But what if it wasn’t? And Thatch should have told his brother, shouldn’t he? Though Marco hadn’t said anything, nor acknowledged Ace more than usual.

So perhaps Thatch wanted it to be a surprise if Ace suddenly showed up, and who was Ace to ruin that? Besides, it was better to be able to come – even if he wasn’t welcome – than be told he couldn’t come, right?

Ace couldn’t help but feel nervous. Izo and Thatch had explained to him that none of the brothers were related by blood, nor did they share a last name, but they regarded themselves as family. He would be the only outsider there. Thatch had laughed when Ace voiced his worries. Again he had impressed on Ace’s mind their ‘Pops’ would have adopted him without a second thought had he been in need of a guardian. Ace hadn’t been, he had his Gramps, but the thought was nice.

He wondered what it would be like to have a big family. Now all he had was his grandfather, whom he rarely saw – and when he did, it was usually the older man yelling at him – and Luffy, who was quite a handful already. But he knew his brother had his back, just as he knew Thatch’s and Izo’s family – or the Whitebeard Pirates, as they liked to call themselves – had each other’s.

Ace had managed to get the night off, despite the fact that he was scheduled to work. It had taken a lot of begging and doing people some favours he wasn’t proud off, but he managed. No way he would pass up a chance to see Marco in his natural habitat, so to speak. Would he behave differently around his brothers?

Unfortunately, he was still on call that night, so if a fire broke out he could be summoned. He prayed nothing would happen; despite the fact he loved his job and was very nervous for tonight, he had looked forward to it ever since Thatch had invited him.

Earlier that week Thatch had texted him the poker night would be held at Izo’s house. He had been there before, as Izo’s studio was at his own place, so he knew where he had to go. It wasn’t that far from his own house, but far enough he had to take his motorcycle. Besides, if he was paged, he needed to get to the place of the fire fast.

Taking a deep breath, he rang the doorbell. He heard shouting and loud laughter inside the house. Just as he was considering texting Thatch that he had arrived, the door opened. He was greeted by a man with black hair, a fancy moustache and wearing a top head. “Yes?” he asked.

He pressed his nerves away and took a confident stance. “Hi, my name’s Ace. Thatch invited me.” He tried not to stare at the man’s moustache, it was very impressive.

At that moment, Thatch appeared next to his brother smiling broadly. “Ace, you made it. Vista, meet Ace. He’s the guy I told you about.”

Though he had no idea what Thatch had told about him, Ace held out his hand and was met by a very firm handshake. When Vista let go, Ace was suddenly holding a rose. Confused, he looked at the two brothers both grinning.

“Vista is a magician,” Thatch explained.

Vista bowed and took off his hat. Ace laughed, impressed. This was one interesting family. He couldn’t wait to see what the other brothers had in stock for him.

He was let in and Thatch and Vista lead the way to the living room, where he was greeted by Izo, who threw his arms around him. After the enthusiastic greeting, he was introduced to Jozu, a big, broad-chested man with a stern look. Shaking hands, Ace was afraid his bones would break. Unexpected by his looks, Jozu turned out to be a jeweller, specialized in diamonds. Marco wasn’t there yet.

One after another, the brothers arrived. Ace met Rakuyo, a man with blond dreadlocks held back by a yellow bandana and a black moustache, who was a mechanic, a soldier named Curiel and Namur, who worked at the aquarium. Still no Marco though.

Ace sat down on the couch. The coffee table was littered with bottles, glasses, trays of snacks and things Vista had let magically appear. When offered a drink, Ace asked for some juice, after all, he had to stay sober.

Ace dove on the food like he hadn’t eaten in days. It felt like that too, even though he just ate an extra large pizza. Well, two. The other brothers ate from the food too, but oddly enough, nobody touched Izo’s home baked muffins. Shrugging, he reached for them, earning a dramatic “Nooo!” from the others. He took a bite and looked at them expectantly. Some yaws dropped.

“Nobody eats those,” Thatch said in awe. “He tried to feed them to us every time, but they’re inedible.” It was probably a good thing Izo was in the kitchen refilling drinks.

Ace shrugged. “Nothing wrong with them.” He stuffed another one in his mouth.

Izo entered the living room again and gave a happy shriek. “You like my muffins!” He hugged Ace so tightly Ace feared the muffins would come back out. Finally, Izo let go and Ace caught his breath as Izo resumed in serving the other brothers.

“So, aside from Marco, is this everyone?” Ace asked Thatch while grabbing another muffin.

Thatch started to laugh. “No, this is about half of it.”

That moment the doorbell rang again. Thatch left the living room, only to return followed by a familiar blond head of hair.

Ace’s yaw would have dropped, hadn’t his mouth been full with muffin. Was this the same guy he saw almost daily at work? Yes, after his first day of work, Marco had started dressing more casually, but he had never looked this good before. Marco was wearing black sandals, knee-long, dark grey pants, and a light blue sash around his waist. The purple jacket hung open, showing off his bare chest.

Ace almost choked on his muffin. Sure, fleetingly he had wondered what would be beneath those clothes, but he definitely hadn’t expect _this_. Though being lean, Marco’s upper body had been trained well, judging from the muscles. What surprised Ace even more was the large tattoo that adorned Marco’s chest. It showed a dark blue cross with a horizontal crescent moon pointing up of same colour through it.

Biting his lip, Ace could already see himself licking those muscular abs. Shit, when did this happen? Maybe he was shallow, but _damn_ … He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of surprises the rest of those cloths were hiding. His glance shifted to the front of the baggy, low hanging pants.

Izo, however, was less pleased with how his brother looked. “You could at least have worn a shirt!” he said disapproving.

Thatch burst into laughing. “You draw naked people all the time, but you offended when someone neglects to wear a shirt?”

Izo snorted. “Well, excuse me for not feeling the need to look at my brother’s abs all day!”

“My washing machine broke down,” Marco explained. “These were all the clothes I got left.”

Rakuyo looked up from his conversation with Namur. “I’ll look at it in the morning.”

Marco saluted in thanks, while Izo said: “Well, alright. I was worried you started to look like him!” He pointed at Ace, shirtless as always.

Marco turned around, following his brother’s finger. He had obviously not noticed Ace before, as an emotion flashed across his face. Fear? Dread? But it disappeared soon enough. Ace had just stuffed another muffin in his mouth – he really didn’t understand how he could be the only one liking them, but well, more for him – and tried to grin at Marco. Charming. He earned a nod back.

“Thatch, could I see you in the kitchen?” Marco’s stance was casual, but his tone was stern.

“Well, I’d rather stay alive,” Thatch started, but a look from Marco made him shut up and follow obediently. Izo hastened after his brothers.

* * *

As soon as the door closed, Marco turned around to his brothers. While trying to control his murder tendencies, he kept staring at Thatch. He just knew Thatch had to be behind this. “Care to explain?” he finally managed to choke out.

Thatch looked at him innocently. “What would you like me to explain?”

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. “Why is Portgas here?”

“You didn’t tell him?” Izo smacked Thatch’s arm.

“He would have killed me if I did,” Thatch shrugged. “And besides,” he added grinning, “it was way funnier this way. You parading around half naked, showing off your abs…”

“It was nice knowing you, Thatch.” Izo tapped Thatch’s shoulder in disdain. “But seriously, Marco, you should marry this guy! He loves my muffins, contrary to you barbarians.” He snorted.

“How many times I have to tell you to stop sticking your noses into my business?!” Marco asked sharply. Inadvertently, he had pulled his jacket close at Thatch’s remark about his abs. When he had noticed Ace – and he still couldn’t believe it had taken so long before he did – he almost had a heart attack. Fortunately, he could recover quickly before he made an ass of himself. He could only hope Ace hadn’t noticed his initial shock. But how Thatch had been able to lure him here, he didn’t understand.

“Who says he’s here for you?” Thatch decided on another strategy. “Not everything’s about you, you know? I just invited a friend over.” He turned up his nose.

Marco raised an eyebrow at this transparent excuse and exchanged a look with Izo.

“Now, you go have fun.” Thatch shoved Marco towards the door.

At that moment, said door flung open and Ace stepped into the kitchen holding an empty plate. “We’re out of muffins–” he started, before Marco slammed into him.

Both men grabbed at their heads, which were banged together, and Marco turned to his brother. “Dammit, Thatch!”

“Oops, my bad.” Thatch grinned. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Ace said, while Marco nodded. Marco glanced at Thatch one more time, before leaving the kitchen.

Ace stared after him. When he noticed Izo and Thatch watching him with meaningful smiles, he exclaimed: “What? I was just wondering about his tattoo!” _And whatever is hidden in those pants…_

“Oh, that. That’s our Jolly Roger,” Thatch explained grinning, while Izo refilled the plate with muffins. “We all got a tattoo, except Rakuyo, who’s got it on his bandana.”

“Really?” Ace thought about the brothers he had met.

“Most are hidden under our clothes, usually Marco’s as well, but you should have noticed Curiel’s. He’s got it in his chin, for Pete’s sake!”

“I thought that was a goatee,” Ace admitted embarrassed. He hadn’t really paid attention to it, to be honest.

“Guess where mine is,” Thatch said pulling his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

“I really don’t wanna know. Thanks for the food.” He bowed to Izo and returned to the living room. Marco was talking to Curiel and Namur in the corner.

Ace took a seat on the couch. Thatch and Izo entered the room again. “So, we’re gonna play poker or what?” the latter asked, placing a pack of carts on the table.

“Just wait a little longer,” Curiel said. “First the First Division Commander needs to settle this.”

“Commander?” Ace asked Thatch, who sat down next to him.

Thatch started to laugh. “Oh, that’s what we call Marco. He was the first to get adopted by Pops, that’s why he’s ‘First’. He always fixes things and looks out for us, but also gives out orders, hence the nickname. Now he’s settling a dispute between Curiel and Namur. I’m not sure what they are fighting about – they have been arguing ever since they got here – but they won’t listen to me anyway.” He pouted a little. But then his face brightened again. “That’s why we have Marco. His word is final.” From his words, it was obvious Thatch had a lot of respect for his brother.

Ace nodded, staring at Marco in awe. He hadn’t expect Marco to have so much influence on his brothers, or that he would be this much respected. Marco was taking on the role of big brother, but he didn’t look like the oldest… Ace had no idea how old Marco was. He was just about to ask Thatch, when suddenly the music was turned up.

Surprised, Ace looked at Rakuyo, who jumped on the table and suddenly started singing:

 _While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo_  
_While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo_  
_While goin' the road to sweet Athy_  
_A stick in me hand and a tear in me eye_  
_A doleful damsel I heard cry,_  
_Johnny I hardly knew ya._

He was just wondering if they would get a concert, when suddenly all brothers joined in, even the most serious of them.

 _With your guns and drums and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo_  
_With your guns and drums and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo_  
_With your guns and drums and drums and guns_  
_The enemy nearly slew ya_  
_Oh darling dear, you look so queer_  
_Johnny I hardly knew ya._

Laughing in amazement, Ace listened to Rakuyo, who took care of the next couplet, after which the brothers joined in again. It was obvious this wasn’t the first time they did this, it was too much in chorus for that. During a musical intermezzo, he nudged Thatch and looked at him questioning.

Thatch shrugged grinning. “What can I say? Sometimes we feel like singing sailor songs and stuff.”

“Yeah, you’re pirates alright,” Ace said laughing, before the next chorus started. The music and singing was accompanied by stamping and clapping of hands.

When the music died away, he stood up applauding. “That was awesome!” he exclaimed. “My family never spontaneously burst out in singing!”

Some of the brothers started to laugh. Thatch slapped him on the back. “You should. It’s fun. Or,” he added with a wink, “you should come by here more often.”

Ace grinned at him, he would definitely like that. He got along with all the brothers very well. There was only one he hadn’t spoken to, and that was Marco. Which was odd, since he worked with the man. They should have something to talk about, shouldn’t they?

It appeared Marco, Curiel and Namur were finished with their talk – as they had all pitched in the song as well – because the latter two shook hands and walked over to the table. Ace was just about to seize his chance to talk to Marco – and hoping he would come up with a subject that wasn’t about sucking cocks, like Smoker had suggested – when the brothers all took a seat at the table. It was time to play poker.

Izo shuffled the cards with skill, and dealt them. “We’re playing _Texas Hold ’Em_. You know it?” he asked Ace.

Ace nodded.

“Good. Thatch, you’re small blind, Jozu is the big blind.”

The players bet their wages, before Izo flopped the first three cards.

Over the edge of his cards, Ace looked at the person opposite of him. How he managed to take a seat right across Marco, he didn’t know, but he hardly minded the view. It also gave him the time to study him up close. Aside from his brilliant poker face – he just as well could be reading a book or something – and the usual stubble on his chin, it was only now that Ace noticed that Marco had the most beautiful eyes. Beneath the sleepy eyelids light blue orbs watched the game intensely.

Suddenly, Marco’s glance flicked up, catching Ace’s look. Ace felt like he was rooted to his seat. He couldn’t look away, even if he had wanted to. It was like Marco could see into his soul, but his look was warm, so Ace wouldn’t mind if he could.

A vibrating feeling in his pocket gave him almost a heart attack and caused him to jump up, exclaiming, “Holy crap!” and knocking over his glass. He reached for his pager, but it was what he had expected. There was a fire, and he was needed. “Ah fuck, I gotta go. Sorry about the mess,” he apologised to Izo while bowing.

Izo waved his apologies away. “It’s fine. We understand. Now, go save people from fire.” He placed a hand on Marco’s shoulder.

“Will do!” Ace bounced away, only to turn back and grabbing another muffin, before running outside.

They heard a motorcycle start outside before tearing away. Izo walked to the kitchen to get a cloth to clean the juice Ace had spilled.

“Well, that brings back memories,” Rakuyo said, slapping Marco on the shoulder. “Is it weird not having to dash out during a game?”

“I’m used to it by now,” Marco answered emotionlessly.

“Well, the boy has a poker face that can compete with Marco’s.” Thatch flipped over Ace’s cards. “He just grins at everything. Look how lousy his hand was.”

“Damn, I knew for sure he had something there.” Jozu cursed while throwing his cards down. In the round before he had folded.

“I told you he would make things _interesting_.” The last word Thatch spoke was meaningfully directed to Marco. Marco clenched his teeth. His brother was as subtle as a brick to the face.

“Are all your colleagues this much fun?” Namur asked.

Great, now everyone liked Ace. It was bad enough when it was just Thatch, and after that Izo. But apparently, Ace was now fully accepted and admitted to the group. “I wouldn’t know,” he answered Namur’s question with clenched jaws. “I didn’t invite him.” With that, he looked accusingly at Thatch.

Thatch shrugged. “I don’t get why you’re so upset about this. Everybody likes him, as I predicted. He’s your co-worker, for Pete’s sake, and you haven’t said a damn word to him. And you’re gonna have to, if you want to get something started.”

At that, Marco started up from his chair and looked at Thatch threatening. The other men had fallen silent. Marco didn’t get mad often, but now Thatch had gone too far.

“Is that true? You like this kid?” Jozu asked carefully, as Marco was rather unpredictable when angry.

Marco eyed him for a second before looking back at Thatch. “Thatch sure seems to think so.”

“Look, I’m just trying to help,” Thatch started.

“I don’t _need_ your help. And I have never asked for it. You just assumed something I have never confirmed. So, for the last time: stay out of my affairs.” He made sure he spoke slowly and clearly.

“But–” Thatch tried one last time.

“That’s an order!” It wasn’t often he used his authority like this. He had gotten the nickname First Division Commander for overseeing everything and making sure everyone did their job and got along. And yes, occasionally by giving out orders. But he didn’t abuse his power. His brothers respected him and listened to him. Thatch was just a bit more thick-headed.

Pouting, the latter let himself fall into a chair. Marco sat down as well, rubbing his temples. Silence filled the room, aside from the music that played softly in the background. Suddenly, Thatch’s head picked up. He turned the music up, while starting to sing: “ _All who want to sail the capes, ought to be men with beards…_ ”

The other brothers joined in, including Marco, smiling. He could never stay mad at his brothers for long, especially when they had good intentions to begin with.

* * *

After the fire had been put out – without leaving any victims, fortunately – Ace had been tired. It was already too late to go back to Izo’s place, everyone would have gone home already. Extinguishing the fire had taken hours.

He probably should have gone home, but he couldn’t get the image of a half-naked Marco out of his head. So first he should take care of his horniness. And ever since he met Smoker, he didn’t have to do it himself – hell, he didn’t even have to before that, he never had trouble picking up people.

So he hastened to Smoker’s house. Smoker had been reluctant at first, grumbling something about brats showing up in the middle of the night, demanding to have their way, but eventually he had given in. But when Ace finally got him all hot and heavy, his narcolepsy had kicked in.

Smoker had been not amused and kicked him off the bed, judging by the bruises at least. Ace hadn’t woken up; unfortunately, he was a heavy sleeper. So Smoker had thrown him out, literally. That did woke him up. Smoker refused to open the door, which pissed Ace off. It wasn’t his fault he fell asleep, even if he hadn’t told Smoker of his condition. Ass.

Just when he thought about leaving, he felt the lighter in his pocket. A mischievous smile appeared on his face. In his youth, he had gotten into trouble for setting things on fire, but this time, he had his escape vehicle ready. Quickly, he flicked the lighter open and held the small flame against a dead bush, in the meantime keeping an eye on the house. The lights were still off.

The shrub was planted far enough from the house and other plants not to let the fire spread. Just enough to get Smoker’s attention. After all, he was still a fireman, even if he had sometimes slight pyromaniac tendencies. Still grinning, he started his motorcycle and tore away.

He had a few hours before he had to be at the fire station again, so there was still time to get some sleep. He drove home, placing his motorcycle in the garage and hoisting himself upstairs. Inside his room, he jumped over the comic books and laundry dispersed on the floor and let himself fall on the bed.

Despite his revenge, Ace was still angry. Not just at Smoker, also at the situation. Last night he had had the perfect opportunity to talk to Marco – hell, he had talked to all his brothers who were present! But of course there had to be a fire that night, and he had to leave early. Now he had to get invited all over again! What if the brothers didn’t like it to have an outsider present? Or worse, what if Marco hadn’t liked him being there?

At times like this, when he actually was happy being narcoleptic because falling asleep would stop his hectic thoughts, his condition never kicked in. He was wide-awake, staring at the sealing. After an hour, he yelled at no one in particular: “Fuck it!” and strolled downstairs. He grabbed his motorcycle and headed in a random direction.

None of his friends would be up at this hour and he wouldn’t survive trying to wake them up. So he resolved into driving around town randomly, silently hoping to bump into Marco or find his house. How he would recognise the latter he didn’t know, but a man can dream.

He ended up finding neither and giving up, he decided to head to the fire station. It was almost time to start working anyway. He had driven around for hours.

He was tired, though. Yawning, he didn’t pay attention for a second, just at the moment a pedestrian appeared. He saw him just in time, yanking at the handlebars. His motorcycle toppled over.

Scrambling to his feet – and silently thanking his grandfather for hammering into his head to always wear protective gear on his motorcycle – he froze when he saw whom he almost hit.

Marco had been on his way to the house that burned down last night, to determine whether or not it was arson. He had stopped by the fire station to pick up his notes from previous fires caused by arson, which seemed to have a pattern. On his way to the car, he had noticed the motorcycle that had come in his direction at high speed. With an agile leap he didn’t know he was still capable off, he had jumped out of the way at the same time the vehicle had swerved out.

He didn’t know whether or not to get angry, but if he was, all anger melted away when the motorcyclist took off his helmet.

“Fuck, I’m sorry! Are you okay?” a worried looking Ace asked him.

His mouth had gone dry, so he just nodded.

Ace rubbed his head annoyed. “Shit, I wasn’t paying attention. Didn’t get much sleep. Y’know, ‘cause of the fire. Took hours to put out. I’m sorry for dashing out like that, by the way. I had fun last night, before duty called, that is.” He scratched the back of his head. “Ah, I guess I should have checked with you if it was okay I came. Thatch invited me and well, I kinda looked forward to it…” He knew he was babbling, but dammit, he was nervous! Marco was wearing a shirt today, but Ace could vividly picture it when he hadn’t the previous night. Besides, he just almost run Marco over, not a great way to impress someone.

Marco just opened his mouth, when he was – for the second time that day – almost hit by a motorised vehicle, a police car this time. A fuming Smoker got out.

“Portgas! You’ve got some nerve…!”

Out of the passenger seat a woman with red glasses stepped. “Sir, think of your blood pressure!” On her way to Smoker, she tripped and lost her glasses. Panicking, she looked for them.

Marco looked surprised and a bit suspicious to the men that were yelling obscenities to each other, but then bent down – he still had to be careful with that, thanks to his former injury – to help the dark haired woman.

In the meantime, Ace and Smoker were still yelling at each other. Of course, nobody could know about their private matters – not even the woman, Tashigi, Smoker’s partner – so they made sure not to mention the sex in any way. Ace was starting to get more pissed off by the second, he had forgotten Marco was still present. He felt like punching Smoker in the face – the guys from the boxing club didn’t call him Firefist for nothing.

He had barely raised his fist, when he saw a flash of blond and in the blink of an eye, he was pinned against the ground, with his arm in a painful grip. Still trying to wrap his brain about what just happened, he remembered Zoro telling him about tapping off in martial arts when it hurt – he should really thank the guy sometime. He managed to tap on the ground with his free hand and the iron grip was released.

“I apologise for interfering,” he heard Marco say, before the latter walked away. A car started, Ace lifted up his head just in time to see the light blue vehicle drive off.

Ace scrambled to his feet for the second time that day. Smoker’s jaw had dropped, the cigar he was smoking fallen on the ground. But Smoker recovered quickly, though his anger had drained away. “Assaulting a police officer is a serious offence,” he said sternly. “You’re lucky that guy was here.”

Ace stared in the direction the car had disappeared. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “I guess I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs are (in order):  
> Santiano – Drums and Guns, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya  
> A quite literal translation of Rapalje/Santiano – Al die willen te kaap’ren varen/Alle die mit uns auf Kaperfart fahren (the former is the Dutch version, the latter German)


	5. Chapter 5

Finally, Tashigi had convinced Smoker that they had more important stuff to do then yell at a fireman all day, so he should either arrest Ace or they should move on. She tried to sound brave, but Smoker was an intimidating man.

Still, he listened to her and stepped in the car, mumbling the brat wasn’t worth the paperwork. Ace grinned – he knew better, after all this time, Smoker cared for him at least a little. Besides, Ace wasn’t below blackmailing Smoker as Smoker was the one wanting to keep their ‘relationship’ a secret. But he was sure to hide his smirk for him, as he didn’t want Smoker to change his mind.

Having watched the police car drive off, Ace dragged himself inside. Time for work.

* * *

It didn’t take long to determine what was the cause of the fire. Much to Marco’s relief it wasn’t the feared arsonist, who had already struck five times in a very short period. This time, it had been an accident, someone left curling iron that was turned on next to a box of tissues. He made notes and took some photos, and after that, he headed back to the fire station to start on the report.

Making his way to the canteen to get some coffee first, he stopped in his tracks in the doorway. At the table Ace was sitting, his head fallen face first on the top, and was snoring softly. The sight was endearing and Marco couldn’t help but stare for a while. Well, Ace had said he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Marco knew all about it, when he was a fireman, he had missed a night of sleep every once in a while.

Suddenly, he remembered something. It was common for a firefighter to stay up all night and still be assigned for a shift in the morning. It was alright to have nap in the fire station, there was a room with beds for that exact reason. But at his former fire station when a firefighter fell asleep in another place then the sleeping quarter, that person could very well wake up with something drawn on their face, find a hand in a glass water, or be the victim of another prank. It had never happened to him, fortunately, nor had he ever participated in a practical joke like that.

He didn’t know whether they were as childish in this fire station as well, but he wouldn’t take the chance of letting that happen to Ace. Quickly, he glanced outside to see if the coast was clear. There was no one to be seen, so he walked over to the table. Careful to lift from his knees to spare his back, he managed to raise the muscular man.

The sleeping quarter were right across the canteen. Keeping an eye out if he saw anyone – it would be difficult to explain why he cared whether or not a colleague was sleeping with his head on the table or was drawn on – he made his way over there, trying not to wake Ace. After all, it would be even more difficult to explain to Ace why he was carrying him around. In the sleeping quarter, most beds were empty, aside from one, of which a loud snoring sound arose.

Carefully, Marco laid the still sleeping man on the lower one of a random bunk bed. Now he finally had the time to study Ace’s face. As he noticed before, Ace looked endearing, appearing even younger now that he was asleep. The thought of taking a picture crossed his mind, as the camera he used at the place of the fire was still hanging around his neck. But he dismissed the thought, that would be creepy.

However, he couldn’t resist caressing Ace’s hair. It was surprisingly soft. Ace mumbled something in his sleep and seemed to lean into his touch. Hesitating for a second, afraid Ace might wake up, he continued his motion.

He was so beautiful. Marco swallowed. He knew he shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t even be there. Ace had a boyfriend, so much was clear from what he witnessed this morning. The police officer had reprimanded Ace for something, but their bickering sounded a lot like a couple’s would.

He sighed. He should be happy Ace was in a relationship, as that would prevent him from doing something stupid like asking Ace out.

But he wasn’t happy. Hell, he was miserable. After Thatch had told him Ace swung both ways, even if he had forbidden himself, Marco had been exited he stood a chance. During the poker night, he had been able to restrain himself not to talk to Ace or do something inappropriate, but that was mainly because he had been occupied for a time and after that, Ace had been summoned. It had been a good thing as well, he realised now. He would really embarrass himself if he asked Ace out while he was taken.

Still, even knowing Ace had a boyfriend – and quite a scary one at that – couldn’t prevent him from starting to fall in love with Ace.

At first he had thought it was merely physical attraction, but now he had observed Ace some more – in a non-creepy way of course – and had seen how well Ace could get along with his brothers, he had learned Ace was as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside – cheesy as that may sound.

Marco didn’t fall in love often. His brothers always came first, and most of his partners weren’t able to deal with that.

But Ace, Ace was different. He fit right into the family, he was handsome, funny and brave. A worthy man.

That was why it hurt all the more nothing could ever happen between them.

Not being able to resist anymore, Marco bent forward and kissed Ace softly on the forehead, before leaving the sleeping room, turning back only once. He didn’t even notice the loud snoring on the other end of the room had ceased.

* * *

Still a little sleepy, Ace rubbed his eyes and yawned. Stupid narcolepsy only kicked in when it was inconvenient. He really had to be more careful at the fire station. Nobody outside his family and friend group knew of his condition, and he liked to keep it that way. Chopper, the neighbour boy of Zoro who studied medicine, had offered some drugs that should prevent the sleep attacks to happen. Maybe he should give them a try, if only because he didn’t have to worry anymore to fall asleep at work.

He opened his eyes. It was a good thing he had fallen asleep in the bedroom at the fire station. It would have been awful if he had bunked down somewhere else in the station. Again. He could remember clearly how the last time his so-called friends had played connect-the-dots with his freckles. He already hated the things, they made him look younger than he was, dammit!

Good thing the rule was no practical jokes in the sleeping quarter. Still, just to be sure, he checked his face in the mirror. Everything seemed fine, he looked sleepy, but other then that the only thing that decorated his face were those damned freckles. He looked around the room, but he was the only person there.

Stretching himself, he sunk down on the bed again. The weird thing was though, he couldn’t remember going to this room. He had gone to the canteen to get coffee, in order to stay awake. He had sat down while the coffee machine prepared his order – a double espresso, just to be sure. After that… No, he couldn’t remember anything after that. Still, he had to have gotten here somehow, or had he been walking in his sleep? Maybe someone had carried him? He dismissed the thought. He knew he was heavy – thanks to his muscles – and he couldn’t think of anyone who would risk throwing their back out or passing up a chance to mess with him.

No, it had to be the sleepwalking thing. It was probably a defence mechanism of his body so he wouldn’t be found out. Maybe he should ask Chopper.

* * *

When he finally got home from the shift that seemed to go on forever, his mood was immediately picked up when he noticed the envelope lying on the mat. It was an invitation to Vivi’s wedding, his ex-girlfriend and now one of his best friends.

Flapping the paper in Nami’s face, he said smugly: “I told you I would get invited.”

“Of course I knew you would, dimwit. I’m her maid of honour,” Nami said sighing. “But believe me, I have tried to talk her out of it.”

“Why?” Ace pouted.

“’Cause you’re her ex, and Kohza isn’t very happy with that. Contrary to popular believe, the feelings of the groom do count, you know,” she answered stiffly.

That only made him pout more. “But Vivi and I haven’t dated in two years! She’s my friend, and I’m happy she has found her soulmate. Kohza is a good guy, I already checked that out.” After the relationship between Vivi and Kohza became serious, Vivi had invited Ace over to introduce them. And he was the first to hear that Kohza had proposed, even before Nami, something she reproached him with.

Vivi was a cousin of Zoro. She and Ace had met two years ago when she visited Zoro in college and Ace happened to be there. He wouldn’t call it love at first sight, but he thought she was hot and she thought the same, causing them to end up in bed together. That was something very unlike her, and Vivi had been very ashamed of it. Overprotective as he was, Zoro made Ace ask her out – something he had already been considering – and they ended up dating for the longest period Ace had ever been in a relationship: an impressive whole month.

After that, Vivi had realised that Ace would be happier in a relationship with a man, she said she knew he was missing something. That, and the fact he had confessed helping Zoro come out of the closet by sleeping with him – even if it was only that one time – didn’t sit well with her. Zoro was her cousin, after all.

So they decided to break up, making the cheesy promise to stay friends, which, much to Ace’s surprise, was what actually happened. At first, Vivi had needed some time and space, but she had gotten over him. They started hanging out, first only with other people around, but eventually, they were comfortable enough to do things together just the two of them.

Vivi had met Kohza at the train station. They were childhood friends who lost contact, and now the friendship turned into something more.

“Well, I’m going, whether you like it or not. Hell, it’s more likely I end up in bed with the groom than the bride,” Ace snorted. Kohza was a blond after all, and Ace had a weak spot for blonds. “But I’ll bring a date, if that makes you feel better,” he added reassuring, as Nami’s eyebrow had started twitching annoyed.

Smoker was of course not an option, he would twist Ace’s neck if he even put forward a suggestion like that. But he had already someone in mind to ask. He smiled mischievously. Yes, that certain blond would do just fine as his date.

* * *

The next day, Ace made sure he was well-rested when going to work. He was a little nervous now he had resolved in asking Marco to go to Vivi’s wedding. Would he say yes? Or was Ace just being stupid? After all, he still didn’t know whether or not Marco was gay. Maybe he should have asked Thatch or Izo, but that would be a little inappropriate. On the other hand, those two had shamelessly inquired about _his_ sexual preference. But unless he could think of a way to inquire it subtly, it would be pretty obvious what his intentions were, and Thatch had already proven that being subtle was pretty hard thing to do.

Ace shook his head. What was he thinking? He had never been shy, dammit! So he would just march to Marco’s office and ask him, regardless of the gossip about Marco or if he would make an ass of himself.

Feeling a little proud of his confident attitude, he climbed the stairs and after taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door of Marco’s office. No answer came. Frowning, he knocked again, a little louder this time. It stayed silent. Carefully, Ace tried the handle. The door was locked.

Ace cursed under his breath. He finally had the courage… It was almost like someone didn’t want them to get together.

Determined to find out where Marco was – after all, he could easily just being running an errant – Ace knocked on the door of the station manager. He heard a grunt, which he interpreted as, “Please come in,” and opened the door.

The station manager looked up a little annoyed from a pile of paper. “What do you want, Portgas?”

“Notin’ much.” How would he approach this inconspicuously? “I just noticed how quiet the station was today.”

“Is it?” The station manager rubbed his chin. “I’ll have to look into that then. As far as I know only Fenwick isn’t here today from the people that should and he is working at home…”

“Why?” Ace demanded, forgetting to be subtle.

The station manager raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Personal reasons.”

“Is he sick?” Ace leaned on the desk, invading his boss’ personal space.

“I don’t know! Now stop asking questions and get back to work!”

Ace swallowed and nodding he walked to the door.

“Oh, Portgas?”

He turned around.

“Which people are not here that should?”

* * *

That evening, he was off early. At work, when the station manager had asked him who wasn’t at work that were supposed to, he had started to panic. Everyone was present. So he just named a few colleagues of whom he knew they had the day off. Annoyed, his boss had sent him away, telling him to stop wasting his time.

After work, he had considered calling Marco, after all, he had still had Marco’s number from when he sort of trespassed in his office. How would he explain how he got the number to Marco? Surely, he couldn’t tell the truth. Maybe he could say that he got it from Thatch or Izo? But what if Marco made inquiries?

In the end, he had decided not to call. There was no rush anyway, it was still a few weeks before the wedding. The worst that could happen was that he would lose his nerve.

He had agreed to go out drinking with Zoro that evening; he could really use that right now. They ended up going to a gay bar nearby, so at least Zoro could pick someone up. Perhaps he would as well.

Nami and Luffy had invited themselves to come along, together with some of Nami’s work friends. The girls went dancing and Zoro and Ace took it upon themselves to guard the naïve Luffy against predators.

“So, how’s business going?” Ace asked Zoro while ordering a beer.

“Slow,” he grunted. “People don’t really need a private investigator with this economy.” He took a sip.

Ace pursed his lips. “What about that bouncer job?”

Zoro groaned and let his head fall on the bar. “Awful. The club is so annoying. The only guests are teenage girls and they don’t shut up!” He slammed his hand on the top. “They never shut up. And they giggle! I have to listen to it the whole time! Boys, make-up… I can’t take it anymore! And worse, after I broke up a fight, some of the girls come over and talk to _me_! It’s excruciating!”

Ace snickered, earning him a dark glare. “You can always quit, can’t you?” he asked composing his face.

“I need the money,” Zoro answered shrugging. Suddenly, he grabbed Luffy’s arm, who was spinning around on the bar stool next to Zoro. “He’s taken,” Zoro growled to a man that had approached. He backed off quickly.

“You’re so mean! You never let me talk to anyone when we go to your bars,” Luffy pouted.

Ace started to laugh and rubbed his brother’s head. “Trust me, it’s for your own good.”

* * *

Tired and a little drunk – okay, very drunk – Ace let himself fall on his bed. The night had been fun. He and Zoro had warded off some men from Luffy and eventually, Nami took that task upon herself. Zoro had found someone to his liking, a ridiculously muscular man by the name of Daz, and had gone home with him. It didn’t really seem like Zoro’s type, but they had the same interest in weapons and what the hell, Zoro deserved a good fuck.

Ace himself hadn’t seen anyone he liked, but after seeing Marco without a shirt, his standards had gone up. And even though there were a few men there that fitted the description ‘blond and sexy’, none of them was Marco.

Nami and Luffy had been surprised he went home alone, but he ignored the questions of the former and just stated he wasn’t feeling like meeting strangers.

Now, here alone in bed, he regretted his decision a little. Luffy stayed over at Nami’s place and Ace hated to be alone. It would be nice to talk to someone.

He took out his phone and scrolled through the contact list. His glance lingered on Marco’s name. He longed to hear his voice. And not just that. He wanted Marco to talk _to him_. They had never spoken a word, Ace had tried to make conversation, but something always got in between. But not this time!

The phone had already rung twice, when his drunken brain realised it was _three in the freaking morning_. But just when he wanted to hang up, he heard a voice say: “Marco.”

He made a little squeak in excitement and opened his mouth to say something. But then he snapped his yaws shut. What should he say?

“Hello?” he heard Marco ask.

“Ehm, yeah, sorry, wrong number,” he mumbled apologetic. What the hell?! When push came to shove, he chickened out?

It stayed silent for a moment, but then Marco said: “You should really pay attention which number you dial at this hour. Most people are asleep.”

Only now Ace realised that Marco didn’t sound sleepy at all. So he didn’t wake him? “Weren’t you sleeping?” he heard himself ask.

Marco chuckled, a sound that sent butterflies to Ace’s stomach. “No, I wasn’t.”

“So what are you doing then?” he asked curiously. “You having a party?”

Another chuckle. “No, just enjoying the night sky.”

“Doesn’t your wife get worried when you don’t come to bed?” Ace couldn’t believe he just asked that, but now he would finally have a definitive answer. Because, though Marco wasn’t wearing a wedding ring as Ace had ascertained, didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t married, right?

“I don’t have a wife.”

Ace bit his lip. “Girlfriend?” _Or boyfriend_ , he thought.

“I’m single. Say, for someone dialling the wrong number, you are awfully curious,” Marco said chuckling.

“Yeah, well… You’re answering all my questions,” Ace said challenging, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling he was already getting addicted to.

“That’s true,” Marco agreed.

“So you’re always talking to strangers in the middle of the night?”

“Are you always asking strangers about their life stories?” Marco flung back. Ace could almost hear him repressing a smile.

Now it was his turn to chuckle. “Only when I’m drunk.”

“So you’re drunk?” It sounded a little disappointed.

“Just a little,” Ace reassured him. It stayed silent for a moment. Ace was debating whether or not to tell Marco who he really was. After all, if he was this nice to a stranger… But then the question why he called and how he got the number would come up again.

He decided first to make sure the conversation was prolonged – he was finally talking with Marco! “Do you always stay up so late? Just in case I dial the wrong number again,” he added chuckling.

He never heard the answer.

* * *

Waking with a start, Ace cursed himself and his narcolepsy when he remembered what happened last night. He had actually been talking to Marco! Even if Marco didn’t know it himself.

Sighing, he got his phone, but when he activated it, he saw to his surprise he had a text-message. From Marco! Quickly, he opened it. It only read one word: ‘ _Goodnight’_.

Smiling, he let himself fall back on the bed. He felt all giddy and happy, and well, stupid. The text even made up for the splitting headache he had from drinking last night. Which reminded him to call Zoro, to see how last night went for him.

He got up and walked downstairs to the kitchen. There he filled a bowl with cereal and started breakfast. While eating – or wolfing down, as some might call it – he kept staring at his phone. Did he dare to?

Marco didn’t know who he was, so what was the harm? Cutting the knot, he opened a text-message screen and wrote: ‘ _You never_ _answered my question_ ’. He put his phone away again and tried not to wait for the answer. After all, he didn’t even know if he would get one. Perhaps Marco thought he was pestering him.

That still didn’t prevent him from checking his phone every minute and even locating Luffy’s phone – which his brother never took with him, as he always forgot it – and sending a text to his own, just to check if it worked.

He drove himself crazy, so he put his phone in his pocket and turned on the television to distract himself. Twenty minutes after he had sent the text, his pocket started to vibrate. Overexcited, he took the device out, almost dropping it – not that that didn’t happen more often – and opened the message. It read: ‘ _Was taking a shower. How do you know I didn’t?_ ’

His eyes lingered on the first sentence. It was probably meant as an apology and an explanation why he didn’t answer sooner, not an invitation to imagine Marco naked. As far as Marco was concerned, neither of them knew what the other looked like, only how they sounded.

But Ace knew damn well how great Marco looked without a shirt, and probably even better without pants. His mind was quick to imagine it. Shit, he would have to pay a visit to Smoker tonight – and probably apologise for burning down the bush. If he could wait that long.

Walking upstairs again – which was hard because, well, _he_ was getting hard – he texted back: ‘ _Srry, I’m narcoleptic_ ’. It didn’t really matter if he told Marco, right? Marco didn’t know who he was. ‘ _Could you repeat it?_ ’

He lay down on his bed again and waited. This time it only took a few minutes to get an answer: ‘ _Just don’t need much sleep_ ’.

It wasn’t a very sexy response, but at this moment everything sounded like an innuendo to Ace. He undid the zipper of his pants. Letting his hand slide down, he grabbed his hardening member. Fuck, he hadn’t pleasured himself in a long time, but he couldn’t wait until tonight.

He closed his eyes, imagining that delicious looking body. He started to move his hand up and down, biting his lip not to moan. Then he remembered he was home alone and gave himself the freedom to be more vocal. He was always loud when it came to sex, Smoker had reprimanded him often to be more quiet. He couldn’t help it.

Moaning, he imagined Marco’s hand on him and he started to pump faster. What would Marco be like in bed? Marco would take things probably more slow, but would move with confident thrusts. _He doesn’t need much sleep_ , would that mean he had a lot of different bed partners?

Ace couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. But right now, in his fantasy world, Marco was all his and doing everything to pleasure him. With brisk strokes, he kept moving his hand up and down, eventually cupping his balls. Marco would have made him feel so good…

Ace reached his climax with a loud groan and after wiping his hand and stomach clean of his semen, he got his phone again. ‘ _Just jerked off thinking of you_ ’. Hastily, he erased the message again. That would be embarrassing to send accidentally.

He wanted to keep the conversation going, but how? ‘ _So, you live alone?_ ’ he typed eventually.

Putting on a clean pair of pants, as the pair he had been wearing were now stained, he waited for a response. Finally, his phone vibrated again. ‘ _I told you I was single_ ’.

‘ _I meant, no roommates?_ ’ he clarified.

Still staring at his phone, he walked downstairs, bumping into Nami. ‘Hey, I thought you and Luffy were at your place,” he said surprised.

Her cheeks were red and she didn’t look him in the eye. “Yeah, I forgot something here.”

Frowning, Ace wondered why she was evading his glance. Then suddenly it hit him. The door of his room had been open the whole time, as he was convinced nobody else was home. A smirk appeared on his face. She had caught him masturbating? Or had she been watching?

He leaned against the doorpost, not allowing her to sneak by him. “Do I need to help you look?”

She shook her head, still not looking at him.

“Come on, whatcha looking for?” He stretched out his arms.

She stumbled backwards. “Dear God, _wash your hands_!” She slipped past him and ran outside.

Ace started to laugh. He knew it was a little mean, but Nami could be evil as well. He probably would pay for this after she had calmed herself. It had been worth it.

* * *

Ace spent the rest of the day texting Marco, asking him all kinds of questions. Even things he already knew, just to keep the conversation going. After Nami had dashed out, Marco had texted him back that he indeed lived alone. At that Ace answered he lived with his brother. Then he asked Marco if he had any siblings. He already knew the answer of course, but he had never heard an exact number and he was curious. As answer, he got back ‘ _14_ ’ and his jaw dropped. So Thatch hadn’t been kidding when he said that at the poker night half of the bothers was there.

After that, he had asked more questions, until the battery of his phone died and he couldn’t find the charger anywhere. After cursing the battery, the phone and the charger, Ace had given up and had played video games with his brother.

That night, he paid Smoker a visit, giving him a box of fancy cigars as a peace offering. Smoker accepted them reluctantly, but gave in to Ace’s request. Smoker had been in need of some stress relieving himself, as Ace would soon find out. He was usually already pretty vocal, but it was like this time Smoker was trying to set some kind of a new record.

The next day, he got to work feeling tired, but satisfied. In the fire station, he found his friends looking rather exhausted. “Big fire last night?” he asked while sitting down.

Johnson groaned. “Yeah, took hours to put out.”

Ace hadn’t been on call, but even then he sometimes got paged to show up. Not this time, so apparently despite the long time it took, they had enough manpower. “No victims, I hope?” he asked a bit worried. That was the worst about the job: the people you couldn’t save.

But Jones shook her head. “No, it was a restaurant. Fancy place too. Called the Baratie or something, I think.”

Ace pursed his lips. That name sounded familiar. Didn’t it just got four stars or something?

“The head chef arrived when we were about done,” Johnson continued. “Poor guy, he was devastated. Very young too. We sent him home.”

Ace shook his head. “You guys think it was arson again?”

Johnson snorted. “Ask our almighty arson inspector.”

Ace rolled his eyes, when Smith suddenly spoke up. “I just overheard the station manager calling him. We should soon find out if the arsonist has struck again.”


	6. Chapter 6

Marco caught himself checking his phone every few minutes. Currently, he was waiting for the head chef of the restaurant that had burned down, as he was told that the owner was out of town. He had spoken with the chef on the phone. The man had sounded devastated. Apparently, the restaurant had been the life’s work of his foster father, the owner.

For the millionth time, Marco flipped open his mobile phone. When he was called two nights ago around three in the morning, he had been surprised, especially since he didn’t know the number. But it could be important, maybe an emergency, so he answered it. He was up anyway.

When he had heard nothing on the other end of the line, he assumed it was some prank and he had been inclined to hang up. Until a voice mumbled: “Sorry, wrong number.” The voice sounded familiar, but from what?

After he had reprimanded the stranger, the man suddenly started asking questions. Marco’s eyes had flung open. That voice… It couldn’t be… Ace?

But then hope had made way for rationality. What were the chances that the object of his desire accidentally called him? The stranger just sounded a lot like Ace, or Marco’s brain made him think that. But the man on the other end of the line seemed to be up for a chat, and so was he.

When the man had announced he was drunk, Marco had been a little disappointed, but rationally speaking it made sense. Why would a sober person chat with a stranger he called by mistake in the middle of the night?

Still, it was nice to talk to someone. At least the stranger didn’t sound like he was very drunk. And he did imply he would call again, when he had asked chuckling if Marco always stayed up late, just in case he dialled the wrong number again. Before Marco could answer though, he was interrupted by a soft snoring. Did the stranger fall asleep in the middle of their conversation?

He tried to get the man’s attention, but when that didn’t work, he hung up sighing. He couldn’t help sending a text, though. Hopefully, the stranger saw that as an invitation to call again when Marco was suffering from insomnia.

And it worked, sort of. Yesterday, they had been texting all day, though Marco still didn’t know the man’s name. His suspicion that it wasn’t Ace was confirmed when the man asked him if he had brothers. Ace knew that, right?

Sure he would have liked it if he was texting Ace, but of course that wasn’t the case. This was nice too, texting silly things to someone he didn’t know. It was worth the steep phone bill. He considered asking the man’s name, after all, the man had heard his when he answered the phone. But yesterday evening the texts had suddenly stopped and Marco had started to panic. He hadn’t said something inappropriate, had he? They had just started talking like they were more than merely strangers. The only thing he had asked what the other liked to do.

He had stayed up, hoping the man would call, but around three thirty, he had fallen asleep.

Sighing, he put his phone back in his pocket. It was nice as long as it lasted. He should focus on his work now.

A blond man came running his way. Marco raised an eyebrow. This was the head chef? He was really young, in his early twenties. ‘ _Around Ace’s age_ ,’ a nagging voice in his head reminded him.

Panting the man came to a stop. “Sorry I’m late. Shitty busses don’t go on time.” He took a deep breath to calm himself, before he straightened. “I’m Sanji. Sanji Prince.” He put out his hand.

Marco shook it. “Marco Fenwick. Are you ready?”

Sanji bit his lip, but nodded and followed Marco into the remains of what was once the Baratie. Marco explained how the fire got started and what had caused it. At the word ‘arson’ Sanji flinched, even though Marco had told him as well over the phone.

Sanji listened quietly, lighting up a cigarette. “Can’t do any more damage,” he said bitterly.

Halfway through his story, Marco’s phone suddenly made a noise. He had to restrain himself not to grab the device immediately, and continued talking like nothing was going on. He caught himself talking faster and slowed down again. Sanji didn’t seemed to have noticed. He only stared at the remains of the restaurant with sad blue eyes. Well, eye, as one of them was covered by a curtain of hair.

After Marco was done explaining and answering the few questions Sanji had, it was already around five. Outside, it had started to rain. He offered Sanji a ride home, as he himself didn’t have the best experience with busses, but Sanji told him he wanted to stay a little while longer.

In the car, Marco immediately grabbed his phone and flipped it open. Much to his joy, it was a text from the midnight caller. ‘ _Srry, phone out of juice. Can never find a charger when you need one :P Practice boxing_ ’. Marco smiled despite himself. So he didn’t get bored after all.

‘ _You any good?_ ’ he wrote back.

During the ride home, he managed not to look at his phone too often. He had to hurry anyway, as tonight he had to train the kids again. He was actually looking forward to it.

Arriving home, he threw together a simple dish. While he was eating, his phone announced he had a text-message again. He almost choked on his food when he read the text. ‘ _Maybe I can show you sometime_ ’. Blankly, he stared at the screen. What did that mean? Did the man wanted to hang out as friends? Or… Or was he asking him out?

But what about Ace? Even thinking about dating someone else felt like cheating, even though that didn’t make sense. Ace was taken, and not interested.

Musing, Marco tapped with his fingers on the table. Maybe it would be good to date someone else. That would take his mind of Ace. He couldn’t wallow in self-pity forever. If it was supposed to be a date, of course. But in any case, it would distract him from a certain sexy fireman.

‘ _Sure, I’d like that_ ,’ he answered. Then his eye fell on the time. He was late! Quickly, he wrote he was busy tonight, so he probably wouldn’t answer anymore. While quickly throwing his sport clothes in a bag, he got a last text, telling him to have fun. He smiled at that. He would certainly have.

* * *

Ace stared at the second-last text he had received. Marco actually wanted to meet him?

He didn’t know what had gotten into him when he wrote the text. It was an attempt to see if Marco was interested, and he was. But in what? Meeting? Or dating?

Groaning in frustration, he arched his back and placed a pillow over his head. Should he ask? But Marco had said he was busy tonight. With what? He had already opened the text-message screen before he shook his head and placed the phone next to him on the couch. No, he had just have to be patient. He could do that. Marco would contact him again tomorrow, right?

But being patient wasn’t one of Ace’s strong points. He jumped up and started pace up and down. Driving himself crazy, he let himself fall on the couch again and turned on the television. Fortunately, there was just a boxing match going on. He called Luffy to come and together they watched the game, eyes shining with glee.

Halfway through the match, however, his brother was dragged away by an angry Nami, who apparently had an office party tonight and Luffy had to accompany her. Whining, Luffy struggled to get out of her death grip, but when she uttered the words ‘free food’, his brother was in the car before Nami could get her purse.

Ace laughed, but it did mean he would be alone tonight, with nobody to talk to. He pouted. He hated to be alone. But that was why he had friends! He could call Zoro, who was supposed to be home tonight. Maybe they could go to a bar or something. He grabbed his phone and clicked away Marco’s text that had still been opened. He searched for Zoro’s number in the contact list.

He was disappointed when the answering machine picked up. “Hey Zoro, it’s Ace. I thought you said you would be home tonight…” He could better leave a message, maybe he was home later than expected? Or… “Oh, wait, I get it, you’ve got a date over,” he continued teasing. Maybe the one-night stand with the muscular man in the bar worked out? Or was it a new guy? “Is he–”

Before Ace could finish his sentence, he was met by an angry voice. “What the hell, Ace!”

He snickered. “So you are at home. And hearing how annoyed you are, you do have a date over.”

“It’s not a date,” Zoro sighed.

“Oh?”

Zoro explained how he had met a guy sitting alone in the rain and how he had taken him home, just to help him out. A friendly gesture. Ace tried to find out what this mystery man looked like, but all he got was ‘blond with blue eyes’. At that, Ace sat up straight. He wouldn’t mean…

No, he convinced himself, there were a lot of blonds out there with blue eyes. And after he had asked for the mystery blond’s age, he was relieved to hear he was about Zoro’s. So it was definitely not Marco.

Which was a good thing, because despite how much Zoro tried to hide it, it was obvious to Ace Zoro liked this guy.

Zoro got annoyed with him and his questioning and after a short goodbye, he hung up. Ace grinned as he laid his phone next to him. Yeah, it was a little disappointing he couldn’t hang out with Zoro tonight, but it was nice that Zoro had finally found someone he liked. Like Ace, Zoro was a loner, not one to be in a relationship. As far as Zoro was concerned, relationships were only a distraction from things that really mattered.

Still, Ace had to approve of this mystery blond first. It was his duty as a friend. Tomorrow morning he would check it out.

* * *

The next morning before work, Ace rolled out of bed. He would interrogate Zoro until he had sufficient answers about that man from last night. Or better, if the blond had stayed over, Ace would get to meet him!

He tossed down a cup of coffee and greeted Nami, who just came in with a bag of groceries and a hungry looking Luffy following her like a puppy. “This is the last time I do the shopping for you! Next time you just fill your own fridge,” she fumed.

Ace snickered. Doing groceries with Luffy was hard, but Nami had threatened him and his brother more than once already. In the end, she always did the shopping anyway, because it drove her mad and well, she had to eat too. She still refused to make eye contact with Ace though. Seeing him jack off sure had left and impression!

But teasing Nami would have to wait. “Later, I’m going to check out Zoro’s date!” he yelled over his shoulder. He was already out the door when he heard Luffy whine: “Aw, but I want to go to Zoro´s too!”

* * *

Of course it annoyed the hell out of Zoro that Ace came bashing in, as it turned out the mystery blond from the previous night was indeed still at his house. His name was Sanji and he was gorgeous. Slim, tall and legs that went on forever. Just Zoro’s type.

He ended up giving Sanji a ride home, as he apparently lived close to the D-brothers. Having overheard a conversation in which Sanji had stated he never let a favour go unreturned, Ace made sure he was invited in his house for a cup of coffee. Or six.

He tried to become friends with Sanji, after all, it was Ace’s duty to meddle in his friends’ love lives and from what he had seen, Zoro and Sanji could use some help. Especially since Sanji insisted he was straight.

Sanji told Ace how the restaurant where he worked, the Baratie, had burned down the night before last. He had been the head chef. Sanji confirmed his suspicion the fire was caused by arson and jealously, Ace had thought to himself how that must mean Sanji had talked to Marco. Why was everyone doing that except him?! He didn’t ask about it, though.

Eventually, he had left Sanji to his own business, as he didn’t want to come home to an already empty fridge when it had just been restocked. Though the chances were highly likely there would already be nothing left – after all, he had left Luffy alone for longer than five minutes. But first he had written down his address for Sanji, with the invitation to stop by sometime soon. He was sure Luffy would want to meet Sanji – his brother would probably worship him because he was a chef.

In all, Sanji had been friendly enough, despite the circumstances, and Ace was really rooting for him and Zoro to get together. Well, first for Sanji to overcome the whole straight thing, but that wouldn’t be that hard, would it?

When Ace got home, he found his brother sitting in front the fridge, looking like a hungry puppy. On the fridge hung a large padlock. He burst into laughter. Nami must have been completely fed up with being always out of food.

“Did she hide the key?” he asked Luffy teasing.

Luffy nodded pouting. “She’s so mean! She won’t give me any food until I pay my dept. It really a lot of money. And I’m hungryyyyy,” he whined. As if on cue, his stomach started to growl.

Ace snickered. “Well, do I have good news for you. The guy that stayed over at Zoro’s place turns out to be a chef.”

Immediately, Luffy stopped pouting and jumped up grabbing Ace by his motor jacket. “Really? Will he cook for me? Did you tell him I like meat? Lots of meat!” His eyes shone with glee.

Laughing, Ace pried himself loose out his brother’s grip. “Not yet. I first have to make sure those two get together. But I did invite him over.”

“When will he come?” The boy bounced up and down excitedly.

“I don’t know. Soon, I hope.”

Luffy pouted again. “But I’m hungry now!”

Smiling affectionately at his simpleminded brother, he patted Luffy on the head. “Why don’t I go and see if I can get the key from Nami, okay?”

The happy smile returned to Luffy’s face.

Ace left the kitchen and found Nami sitting on the couch. “Are you planning to let Luffy starve?”

“First he has to learn to behave.” She didn’t look up from her book, probably to avoid eye contact. So she was still embarrassed, eh? This should be easy.

He sat down next to her, closer than necessary. “Come on, he’s just… enthusiastic.”

“He bit me.”

That made him burst into laughter again. Now she looked up sharply. “You think that’s funny?”

“Kinda,” he hiccupped. “You must know better by now than to stand between Luffy and food.”

“That’s why I’m teaching him a lesson. First he has to pay me the money he owes. Speaking of debts,” she continued with an evil smile, “I have decided to double yours.”

The smile on his face vanished in thin air. “What? Why?”

“Equitable remedy,” she said. “Plus interest, of course.” And she left the room, grinning devilishly.

Ace stayed behind, his mouth hanging open. He knew he was going to regret making fun of Nami. Everyone always did.

* * *

Ace had been so preoccupied with the whole Zoro-Sanji thing – he had called Zoro again to pry some more and give unwanted, but necessary, advice – that he hadn’t even noticed he had received a text-message. He only saw it when he was about to go to the fire station. Marco!

A little giddy, he leaned on his motorcycle and opened the message. ‘ _I had fun. Did you?_ ’

He thought of the night before. Nothing special had happened, aside from the phone conversation he had with Zoro. After that, he had watched some television and had fallen asleep with his head in a bowl of popcorn. The usual stuff. ‘ _Nah, pretty boring. What did you do?_ ’

Perhaps a little bold to ask a personal question like that, but he was dying to know. And if they would meet up – on a date or not – they would want to get to know each other better, right?

He was getting late for work, so he jumped on his motorcycle, still feeling the effects of the many cups of coffee brimming inside him. He tore away, arriving just in time before his shift started.

Before he went inside though, he first checked his phone again. Because of the noise his motorcycle made and the thick protective gear he wore, he never noticed if someone called or texted him while driving. Happily, he saw he indeed had a new text. ‘ _I’m teaching a kid’s class in aikido’._

That was right, Nojiko had told him that. Smiling, he wrote back: ‘ _It seems like you have something to show me as well_ ’.

Before he could reach the door of the station however, he saw a light blue car parked outside. Not able to resist, he walked up to the vehicle and let his hand slide across the lacquer. It was a beautiful car, and very well maintained. He had noticed Marco starting to drive to work in it ever since he stopped using his crutches and Ace had admired the car from afar. And the driver as well.

Suddenly, he realised that if the car was here, the owner probably wouldn’t be far away. But wasn’t Marco supposed to be working at home?

Why the hell did he care?! Excitedly, he dashed inside and spurted up the stairs. He even didn’t look where he was going. He bumped into something, or more logical, _someone_ heading down the stairs. He had been running in such a high pace, that the impact caused him to tumble backwards. He felt himself falling. That sucked. Would he break his neck?

But before he could hit the floor, a strong hand gripped his wrist. When the hand touched his skin, it was like fire shot through his veins. The hand yanked him back on his feet on one of the steps.

Staring in disbelieve – and probably looking rather unintelligently – Ace looked up to his saviour, only to be met by brilliant light blue eyes. His breath faltered and the only thing he could stammer was: “Oh.”

“Dammit Portgas, watch where you’re going!” The harsh voice of the station manager broke the magic. Marco let go if his wrist and Ace scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. His boss was standing next to Marco on the stairs. “Do you even have business upstairs?”

“I just wanted–” Ace started, but the station manager lifted up his hand to stop him.

“I’ll deal with you later. Fenwick,” he turned himself to Marco hand shook his – now free – hand, “thank you for coming in, even though you wanted to work at home. The police really wants this guy behind bars, so it is much appreciated you finished your report this fast.”

“It’s not a problem,” Marco answered, but his eyes flicked to Ace.

“Good. Now Portgas, I want you in my office.”

“But I–” Ace protested. _I need to ask Marco something_.

“Now, Portgas!”

He sighed. “Yes, Sir.” He followed his boss upstairs, passing Marco, who was on his way down. “Thanks for saving my butt,” he said a little uncertain.

Despite his intention to stop drooling after Ace, Marco had to bite back a comment on what he would like to do to said butt. Instead, he gave a slight nod and pretended like he didn’t want to drag Ace to his office to do unspeakable things to him.

Ace had turned around again and continued his way upstairs, while Marco walked down. At the bottom of the stairs, Marco stood still for a moment and sighed. He should… He should go home. Go home and not think about how he felt when he had touched Ace. He had before, of course, when he had seen that Ace intended to hit that police officer – his boyfriend – the years of training had kicked in and before he realised it, he had floored the object of his desire and was twisting his arm. It was a usual finishing move in aikido, and too late he had realised that not everybody knew how to show it hurt. He wouldn’t have twisted too far, but he was pleasantly surprised when Ace had tapped off.

After he had let go of Ace and gotten to his car, doubts had started gnawing inside him. Should he have interfered? But if he hadn’t, Ace would have assaulted a police officer. He couldn’t bear the thought of him going to jail. On the other hand, a nagging voice in his head tried to convince him that if he had let Ace hit the policeman, then their relationship would probably have ended right there.

He sighed again and rubbed his forehead. He had forbidden himself to think like that. Ace was in a relationship and at least Marco convinced himself that Ace was happy. And very much off limits.

Shaking his head about his own foolishness, he attempted to leave the fire station, when his eye fell on a small object lying at the bottom of the stairs. He bent down – cursing his injury – and picked it up. The object turned out to be a metal lighter, decorated with flames. When Marco turned it around he saw that something was engraved into it. ‘ _Firefist Ace_ ’.

He furrowed his eyebrows. So the lighter was definitely Ace’s, probably having slipped out of his pocket when he almost fell. Suppressing the feeling of thrill of holding anything that belonged to Ace – and refusing to give in to the tempting dirty thoughts – he realised he should give it back. But looking to the top of the stairs, he saw that Ace had already disappeared.

Of course he could bring the lighter to the lost and found, but somehow, that felt wrong. The object probably held sentimental value, since Ace was carrying it around and Marco had never caught him smoking.

Not that he was stalking Ace, of course.

He could also hand the lighter to one of the colleagues with whom Ace hung out a lot. What were their names? Ah yes, Smith, Jones and Johnson. But the moment the idea popped into his head, he dismissed it. He didn’t want anyone besides himself to give the lighter back. Wanted to see a smile upon Ace’s face when he handed it back. Maybe even a kiss in gratitude…

He shook his head. No, he wouldn’t go there. But he couldn’t help wanting to hold on this object that belonged to Ace. Quickly scanning the room if anyone was paying attention to him, he let the device slip in his pocket. After that, he casually walked outside, towards his car.

He felt a little childish for wanting to be the person to give the lighter back to the rightful owner, but, he promised himself firmly, that was all he would do. ‘ _Portgas, I found your lighter_.’ No, that didn’t sound right. How about: ‘ _Ace, I believe I have something that belongs to you_.’ It was better, but could he really call him Ace? Well, Ace had called him Marco, so why shouldn’t he use his first name?

Being lost in thought, he only noticed the figure standing next to his car when he was just a few yards away. He raised an eyebrow. The man, apparently waiting for him, was one of the guys that hung out with Ace a lot. Marco had seen this man on his first day, Scorpion Johnson it was, he thought. It was the first time he saw him up close. Scorpion had a shock of brown hair, matching in both ways his beard and moustache. Sunglasses hid his eyes.

He considered walking past Scorpion, but he was leaning on his car – which irritated Marco – and was very much in the way – which annoyed him even more. “May I help you?” he asked, keeping his usual, bored face.

Johnson scowled at him. “I know what you did,” he said in a sepulchral voice.

Marco froze for a second. Had he seen him pick up the lighter? He opened his mouth to assure Ace he was planning to give the object back as soon as he saw Ace again, when the man added: “In the sleeping quarter a few days ago.”

At that, Marco cocked his eyebrow again and felt inadvertently Ace’s lighter in his pocket. There had only been one other person in the sleeping quarter that day, apparently Scorpion. Marco thought he had been asleep. Maybe he woke up?

When Marco wasn’t answering him or defending himself, Scorpion continued: “And I’m going to tell him what you did!”

“You making it sound like I assaulted him,” Marco answered calmly. He wasn’t going to admit to anything. He didn’t know what Scorpion had seen, or at least what he thought he had seen.

Scorpion Johnson clenched his fists. “Then it will be your word against mine! Who do you think he’ll believe, newbie?!”

Marco didn’t dignify that with a response. He got out his car keys and walked to the door. “If you don’t mind.”

“You better stay away from him!” Scorpion burst out. “You hear me? I know all about you and your twisted family! Don’t think I won’t go to the cops! I will!”

Marco stiffened. He didn’t care what anyone said about him. He didn’t care if he got insulted. But no one, _no one_ , badmouthed his family. Sharply, he turned around.

Before Scorpion knew what was happening, he was pinned against the ground, his arm twisted up in a painful grip. Marco twisted the arm a little further than necessary, judging by the squirming and crying. He was feeling a little sadistic. Usually, Marco was very mellow, laid-back even, and in aikido he was taught to fight without inflicting pain – unless his opponent was fighting back. But even then, when pinned against the floor, the fight was over. Even though the grip in which he held Scorpion’s arm was an actual aikido way to finish a move – the same he had used on Ace – he should stop when he was causing pain. And even though Scorpion was a non martial arts performer who didn’t know he had to tap off, the screaming made it pretty obvious he was in pain.

His years of training kicking in, he stopped twisting, but still kept the squirming Scorpion in a hold. “I would stop screaming and squirming if I were you,” he said in a dangerously low voice. “It only hurts more then. Never mind your ego when your colleagues see you being floored by someone who was walking with crutches not too long ago.”

Scorpion’s yaw snapped shut, but he wasn’t keeping still. Marco sighed, but then continued in the same tone: “Listen very carefully. You know nothing about me, or my family. Talk about them disparagingly again, and I’ll make sure everyone _will_ believe you when you say I assaulted you. Do you understand?”

With difficulty since his face was pressed against the ground, Scorpion Johnson nodded.

“Good. As for Ace, you don’t have to worry about me making a move on him. As he is already taken.”

His words stopped Scorpion’s squirming effectively. “W-what?” he asked softly.

This confirmed Marco’s suspicions. It looked like he wasn’t only one with a crush on Ace. That didn’t explain, however, why Scorpion didn’t know about Ace’s relationship. He always saw the two together, surely Ace would tell it if he was dating. Unless… Unless Marco had jumped to conclusions. Weren’t Ace and that policeman dating?

Or the relationship was supposed to be a secret and he had just spilled the beans. Man, this was complicated. He sighed and mumbled: “Or I’m wrong. But,” he continued in a louder tone, “that still gives you no right to interfere, understand?”

When Scorpion nodded again, Marco let go of him and held out his hand to help him get up. Scorpion took it hesitantly, and he was right to be suspicious, because when he had gotten up, Marco didn’t release his hand. Instead, he held it in a death grip. “Tell anyone about our little talk, and I will keep true to my threat. You get me?”

Scorpion swallowed hard and nodded. Marco released his hand and without deigning to look at Johnson again, he got into his car and drove away.

* * *

A few days later, Ace was trying to work off his frustrations on a punching bag. He was at the sports centre and right now trying to knock out the bag he was punching. He was angry for several reasons. First of all, because he lost his favourite lighter. He had looked everywhere, but without avail.

Secondly, he was frustrated because he hadn’t seen Marco in days. They still texted, but Marco’s answers came late and were short. Maybe he was getting bored by their conversation? So last night Ace had gone all out and asked to meet up this Saturday. It had taken him hours to come up with a place which was acceptable to have a date, but didn’t necessarily mean they _were_ on a date. Finally, he had given up and suggested the bar of the sports centre. After all, they had talked about showing each other the sport they practised. But he still hadn’t had a response.

Before he had been able to muster up the courage to ask Marco to meet up, he had set his back up plan in motion. If, for whatever reason, Marco didn’t want to meet up with his virtual alter ego, Ace still would make sure he spent time with Marco in a non-work-related environment. So he had called Thatch and practically begged him to invite him to the next poker night. Thatch had sounded amused even before he asked, like he already knew what the call was about. Still the annoying bastard made him ask it.

“Of course you can come,” he had laughed when Ace was done with his ten-minute long speech of why he should be invited again. “I was planning on calling you one of these days.”

If they had been in the same room, Ace would have strangled him.

“The boys all really like you,” Thatch continued imperturbable. “They all found it a shame you had to leave so early.”

Ace bit back the question he was about to ask. ‘ _Even Marco?_ ’ Instead, he went for the subtle approach to fish information. “So is it always just the guys? Or do you bring partners as well? Like, do you ever bring your girlfriend? Or does Marco?” he ask, mumbling the last words.

That had caused Thatch to laugh again. “I would be surprised if Marco would bring his girlfriend.” At that moment, Ace heard some voices in the background and Thatch said quickly: “Sorry, gotta get back to work. Talk to ya later.” With that, he hung up.

That left Ace non-the-wiser about Marco’s sexuality. It meant that he either a) indeed was gay and therefore never had a girlfriend, b) was straight and never let his family meet the girl or c) was a womaniser who only had one-night stands. Another frustrating point.

And finally, he hadn’t had sex in a while. Smoker was busy nowadays and barely home. Which left Ace sexually frustrated.

So today, the punching bag had a lot endure, but eventually, Ace noticed he had worked off his anger. Panting and sweating, he stopped punching and wiped his brow with his arm, as his hands were tied up in the boxing gloves. Sighing contently, he started to take one of the gloves – which even after many years of training turned out to be a hassle – to drink some water, when he suddenly heard his name. “Ace Portgas?”

He didn’t recognise the gruff voice, so he turned around. Behind him stood a tall man with a purple mohawk that was tied in a braid in the back and a matching sharp moustache pointing down. He was obviously not at the sports centre to work out, as he was wearing a white with purple striped suit. Intrigued, Ace cocked his head to the side. “That’s me. How can I help you?”

He hoped it wasn’t another manager that wanted to make him famous. He enjoyed the amateur boxing and wouldn’t trade his job as a fireman for a professional boxing career. However, the vibe this man sent off was entirely different than the greedy managers’ had been. Which made the whole situation all the more interesting.

“My name is inspector Momonga”, the man introduced himself. “Ace Portgas, you are under arrest for committing arson at the restaurant ‘The Baratie’.”


	7. Chapter 7

Finally, Marco had time for himself again. The last few days had been hectic, which was quite telling for someone who had grown up with fourteen brothers. But those fourteen weren’t the only he had to take care of.

His Pops had kept taking care of orphans, even after the government had stopped Whitebeard from adopting more orphans. When other orphanages were threatening to close down, Whitebeard had taken over and always made sure the orphans who lived there were fed and clothed at all times. He hadn’t done it by himself. His sons, the fifteen boys he had adopted, had helped out, each taking one orphanage under their wing, and Marco even two. That was another aspect his nickname ‘First Division Commander’. They had decided each of the brothers got their own ‘division’, with a number one to sixteen, with Marco having one and two. But as ‘First and Second Division Commander’ was too long, his brothers and the children he took care of simply called him ‘First Division Commander’.

Most of the children in his orphanages had grown up by now – though they still called upon him sometimes – and those who weren’t and the new ones were looked after by former orphans. He mostly acted as director and was called in when there were quarrels between the persons in charge and such. Which had been the case in the First Division this week.

The negotiations were finally over and the fight had been settled. Well, actually, that had been the case two days ago, but since he visited the orphanage less then he should, due to being busy at his own job, the children had kept him there longer. He hardly minded. He was only let go when he had announced he had other children to take care of as well – the children he trained – and had promised to visit again soon.

Exhausted, he let himself fall on the couch. He didn’t tire easily, but a couple of days surrounded by children that lacked personal attention did get to him. Yawning, he flipped open his phone to check his messages. He had texted with his mystery man, but he had to keep it short, because if he didn’t, his phone would be snatched from his hand by a curious orphan, or they would ask away nineteen to the dozen.

Surprised, he stared at the screen. His stranger wanted to meet him. Of course they had talked about it, but now a date and a place was stated. To be honest, he had forgotten about their meeting a little after saving Ace from falling down the stairs. He would never forget that face, first shocked and then… grateful.

But that was all it would ever be. Ace was off-limits. And now there was someone who was actually interested in him, at least as a friend. Smiling, Marco texted back that he would be there, this Saturday in the bar of the sports centre. It was hardly to be called a romantic place, but he supposed they did agree on showing their respective sports. He was already looking forward to Saturday.

* * *

It wasn’t like he had never been in the police station. Gramps had sometimes taken him to work when he was a kid and he had visited his grandfather as well – if only to have an excuse to annoy Smoker at work. It wasn’t like he had never been in an interrogation room either. Gramps had shown it as part of the tour and he had been here a few times when he had set fire to some trashcans. Nor had he never worn handcuffs before, because… well, sometimes things needed to be spiced up a little.

It still felt different now, however. He knew he was innocent. Taking a deep breath, he leaned back in the uncomfortable chair. He would be out of here in no time. He didn’t do anything.

When inspector Momonga finally entered – after what felt like hours – Ace had managed to calm himself down. “Are these really necessary?” he asked, showing his cuffed wrists.

Momonga seemed to hesitate for a moment before undoing the handcuffs. “Well now,” the inspector started, opening a file folder. “Do you know about the fire at the restaurant ‘The Baratie’?”

Ace nodded. “Yeah, my buddies at the fire station told me about it. Took hours to put out, right? I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t working that night.”

“I know.” Momonga sighed. “That’s the problem. We have reason to believe you were at the Baratie at the time of the fire.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” Ace snorted. He was getting angry. He didn’t have anything to do with this fire, dammit! But he tried to keep his cool. Despite being the arresting officer, Momonga had been relatively kind to him. He had been even allowed to shower after this boxing training, before being taken to the police station. Although that might have been for the inspector as well. Ace had noticed him looking at him when he was naked, despite being married – judging by the wedding ring he was wearing. Well, he supposed Momonga couldn’t help it, even the straightest of men stared after Ace. He was used to it by now.

“I’d like to believe you. But telling me were you _weren’t_ , isn’t going to help you. So, Mr Portgas, where _were_ you last Thursday at three in the morning?

Ace didn’t respond. He had been with Smoker that night. He remembered that part vividly, as Smoker had tried to fuck him to death or something. Without success. But he couldn’t tell Momonga that. Smoker would lynch him if he talked about their relationship. So he kept silent.

The inspector sighed and left the room. Ace flicked his eyes over to the large mirror that covered most of one of the walls. He knew it was actually a window. What he didn’t know was whether or not someone was watching him. Sighing, he placed his head on the table. How did he run into trouble this time?

* * *

A loud smack close to his ear woke him with a start. When did he fall asleep?

“This isn’t a hotel, dammit!” a familiar gruff voice said.

Ace groaned. Great, it was lecture time. Slowly, he lifted up his head. He was still in the interrogation room, but instead of inspector Momonga, now Gramps kept him company. And he didn’t seem very happy about it.

“Hey Gramps,” Ace greeted him casually. “Here to bail me out?”

Garp froze for a second, before slamming his hand on the table again. “Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? This isn’t about starting some small bonfire. It’s arson! The maximum sentence is twelve years in prison!”

“Relax, Gramps.” Ace leaned back in his chair, balancing on the two rear legs. “I didn’t do it. I wasn’t even near that restaurant at the time of the fire. Hell, I don’t even know where it is.”

Garp Monkey sighed and rubbed his temples. “Yes, Momonga told me were you weren’t. But that’s not enough. Ace, there is some very incriminating evidence against you. That’s why Momonga got the warrant to have you arrested. There is nothing I can do for you. _You_ are the only person who can get you out of this mess. But you have to give me your alibi!”

“I didn’t do it!” Ace jumped up. “You know I would never commit arson! I’m a fireman, for Pete’s sake! You think we don’t have enough work as it is?! I’m not going to add to that. You have got the wrong guy! Gramps, you have to believe me!”

“It doesn’t matter what I think!” Garp yelled back. “Just tell me were you were at the time of the fire!”

Stubbornly, he sat back down. “I can’t tell you.”

Garp made a growling sound. “Unless you were killing or raping someone, I suggest you tell me right now! I can help you out with smaller offences.”

“I wasn’t doing anything illegal!”

“Does Luffy know where you were?”

Ace looked up sharply. “No. And if he did, he wouldn’t tell you if I didn’t want to.”

Garp lost his patience. “You’re in serious trouble, Ace! This isn’t the time to be stubborn! You’re facing years in prison! Hell, they are already making preparations for your trial! No one is playing games here, so I suggest you stop this nonsense right now!”

Ace rose slowly and stared the older man down. “I can’t tell you were I was. I made a promise. So tell me, why do you really want me out of here, hm? Can’t face the humiliation of having your grandson in prison?”

Garp didn’t back down. “Well then, it shall be as you wish. You’re on your own, brat.” With that, he left the interrogation room, not even looking back once.

* * *

The next time he woke up it was of his own accord. Stupid narcolepsy. He really had to stop falling asleep at the police station. He was still in the same interrogation room. He wondered when they would finally let him out.

Still a bit drowsy, it took him a few seconds to realise he wasn’t alone in the room. Across the table he had been using as a pillow sat a beautiful woman, watching him curiously. She had raven black hair that fell around her shoulders, and a sharp nose. Her arms were folded across her ample bosom. But Ace hardly paid attention to that part. What were most striking were her eyes, the same brilliant blue colour as Marco’s. His still half asleep brain remembered Marco intense stare at the poker night.

Realising he was staring, he wiped a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth – because of the sleep, he wasn’t drooling over the woman – and asked suspiciously: “Who are you?”

“My name is Robin Nico.” Her look never faltered. “I am your lawyer.”

Ace snorted. “I never asked for a lawyer. And I don’t need one.”

“Your grandfather begs to differ.”

That made Ace smile a little. So he wasn’t really on his own. Gramps wouldn’t allow him to go to prison without a fight.

“He seems to think you are in a lot of trouble.” Robin took a sip from her tea. “I’m here to help you.”

Brusquely, Ace stood up and walked over to the window. “I’m not going to tell you were I was. I can’t.”

She chuckled. “Yes, Mr Monkey told me as much. But that makes my job more of a challenge.”

Surprised, he turned around.

Robin was busy packing her briefcase. “I will do some investigation of my own. Should you think of something you _can_ tell me, please give me a call. Goodbye, Mr Portgas.”

“Wait!”

She was already at the door when she turned around, looking at him questioningly.

Ace swallowed. “These sessions, they’re confidential, right?”

“But of course.”

He nodded nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Could… Could you give a message to someone? Without Gramps or anybody finding out?”

When she nodded, he continued: “Could you please tell Captain Smoker I’ve been arrested?”

“Sure. Does he know were you were?” she asked, eyes looking sharp.

Ace sighed. “He’ll tell you what you want to know. I hope.”

* * *

Saturday couldn’t come fast enough, although he had to admit he was a little nervous. After his confirmation he would be at the sports bar, he hadn’t received an answer back. But well, his stranger – maybe Marco should ask his name – had proposed the time and place, so he should be able to make it.

Marco looked at himself in the mirror. As he still didn’t know if this was a date or not, he had decided to dress casual. He was wearing jeans – that coincidentally was the pair Izo had said his ass looked great in – and his favourite purple jacket. Brushing with a hand through his hair one more time, he grabbed his sports bag – in case they were going to demonstrate their respective sports Marco wanted to look the part – and walked to his car.

Two o’clock sharp he was sitting in the bar, looking around him expectantly. He had no idea what his stranger looked like, so he texted he was wearing a purple jacket and hoped for the best. At fifteen minutes past, however, no one had shown up yet nor had he received a response. He decided to order a coffee, perhaps his stranger was just running late.

But after finishing the beverage he was still sitting alone. In some way, he was a little relieved, as he had seen nobody to his liking. He caught himself still looking for someone who looked a little – or a lot – like Ace.

For the umpteenth time, he checked his phone. But nothing. No text, no call. Sighing disappointed, he wrote: ‘ _You could have called_ ’. After sending the message, he paid for the coffee and left the bar.

He had been stood up.

* * *

Marco tried to forget about the incident by burying himself in work. He hadn’t told anyone about what happened, not even Izo and Thatch. They would only tell him to ask out Ace.

The odd thing was, he hadn’t seen Ace in days. Maybe he was sick? It wasn’t like anyone told him anything, not about Ace or about the Baratie-case. A few times police officers had stopped by to ask some questions, but they had never interviewed him. After all, he had already written the report. The firefighters were either scared of him – for some reason – or just ignored him. Scorpion had kept his mouth shut about their little talk, but he still looked at Marco suspiciously.

Sighing, he sat down in his desk chair. Now he couldn’t even distract himself by watching Ace train. He had heard nothing from his mystery man since the text to set a date. He tried to convince himself he hadn’t been ditched, that something unforeseen had occurred, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling that told him otherwise.

When his phone rung, he almost jumped on the device, only to find out it was an unknown number that called. Disappointed, he answered. “Marco Fenwick.”

“Hey Marco, it’s Sanji. From the Baratie.”

Now he recognised the voice. It was the head chef from the restaurant that burned down. He wondered what he would want. “Ah, yes. What can I do for you?”

“You said to call if I had any questions,” Sanji answered. “Well, the owner, Zeff, is back in town and he doesn’t seem to believe the whole arson story.”

Marco stayed silent for a moment. Did he hear that right? He had talked to owners of burned down buildings more often and usually, they got mad when they were told it was an accident of their own fault. Hell, if he told it was arson, most people were _relieved_. Eventually, he managed to ask: “He doesn’t believe it’s _arson_?”

“No. He keeps accusing me and the other chefs of doing something stupid to let it happen.”

He burst into laughter. He couldn’t help it. This was by far the most ridiculous reaction he had had, or at least the most unexpected. After everything that had happened lately, it felt good to laugh again. “That’s so ironic. Usually someone does something stupid and people wish it was arson. But now it’s the other way around and he’s still not happy,” he hiccupped.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he waited until Sanji continued: “So I was wondering if you could explain it to Zeff. Maybe if he hears the technical details, he’ll believe it.”

Marco ruffled through the many papers that were dispersed on his desk until he found his day planner. He didn’t have much else to do today, just finish up. It was four o’clock now. “Sure, if you like, I could pop by tonight. I’ll be there around six.” At least he would have some distraction.

* * *

It was towards six thirty when he parked his car in front of the house where Zeff lived, as his work overran its time. Sanji had given him the address. Sanji had promised him a meal and he had made a lame joke that that was the least he expected from two chefs. Sanji had chuckled politely.

Well, at least he got a free dinner. He had never dined at the Baratie, but it just got a fourth star and was apparently the best restaurant in town. Though Sanji had been head chef, rumour had it that the owner could hardly be dragged out of the kitchen. In all, it promised to be a great meal.

Sanji was the one to let him in before calling for the owner. Zeff was a short, sturdily built man with a peg leg and an impressive moustache. Marco tried not to stare. He had always admired Vista’s facial hair, but this one was _braided_. In his hands, Zeff was holding a steaming bowl. “First we eat,” he said gruffly after curtly introducing himself.

During dinner, Marco explained Zeff the technical details about the fire. He had found traces of an inflammable fluid and he also explained he had seen the same pattern in other arson cases. Zeff listened with something that could be called interest, while Sanji seemed to be lost in thought.

“So it is definitely arson,” Marco concluded his story.

Zeff nodded. “I see. The lill’ eggplant didn’t explain it like _that_.”

Marco smiled slightly. Not just at the affectionate nickname for Sanji, but also because Zeff still managed to make it Sanji’s fault.

Marco complimented the food and asked some polite questions, before turning to Sanji, who still looked like he was lost in thoughts. “So, how’s the investigation going?”

“Sorry?” Sanji blinked with his eyes confused.

“The investigation,” Marco repeated. After all, these people weren’t scared of him, he was their guest, so this was his chance to find out some things. “Or doesn’t the police keep you up-to-date?”

“O yeah, that. Actually, they already arrested someone.”

Taking a bite, Marco raised an eyebrow. This surprised him. “So soon? They really want that pyromaniac behind bars. Have you seen him?”

Sanji nodded. “Though I don’t think he did it. I mean, what kind of fireman is a firebug at night?”

Marco’s fork paused on the way to his mouth. “Fireman?” Someone from his fire station was a suspect in an arson case?

“Yeah. Name’s Ace.”

Now the fork slipped from Marco’s hand and his eyes widened. “P-Portgas?!”

“I don’t know the guy’s last name,” Sanji shrugged. “Ya know him?”

Marco wiped his fork clean with his napkin, his cheeks slightly red from embarrassment. “We’ve never met.” He didn’t know why he lied. Perhaps it was easier, now Sanji wouldn’t ask questions. Suddenly, everything clicked in his head. That was why Ace hadn’t shown up for work! But he couldn’t be responsible, could he? No way his Ace was setting buildings on fire! “That explains some things,” he mumbled.

The food, that had been delicious before – the best he ever had even – suddenly didn’t have any flavour left. He didn’t want to let his hosts know he wasn’t hungry anymore, not wanting to seem impolite, so he kept on eating. He still couldn’t believe it. Why Ace? Any of the firefighters he wouldn’t think twice about if they were locked up, but Ace… Would he ever see him again?

After dinner, Marco politely refused coffee and got ready to leave, saying he still had stuff to. He couldn’t make up a better excuse, his mind still focussed on Ace. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to get drunk, very drunk, and not think about this anymore.

Sanji followed Marco outside. “You okay?” he asked. He must have noticed Marco’s state.

Marco stopped and toyed with his car keys. “Sure. I just need to do stuff.”

“Like what?”

 _Like getting drunk_ , he thought, but didn’t answer. So Sanji continued: “Wanna grab a beer? On me of course.”

“I just got a free dinner,” Marco protested.

“I know. But if you’re going to worry about shit, what better way to do it than with booze?” Sanji explained chuckling.

Marco thought it over for a moment, and then nodded. It didn’t really matter where he got drunk and he probably didn’t have enough booze at home anyway. He usually wasn’t much of a drinker, aside from at parties with his brothers of course. “Sure. A beer sounds good.” _Though one wouldn’t be enough…_

The two of them strolled to Marco’s car, a light blue sports wagon. Sanji whistled impressed. “Nice car. Getting a bit overpaid?”

Marco just smirked and got behind the wheel, as Sanji opened the door on the passenger side. He had the car for a few years now, so even before he became an arson inspector. He had saved up for it and had been pretty devastated when he couldn’t drive it anymore because of his accident. Fortunately, Rakuyo owned a garage, so his car had been in very good care.

When they arrived at the bar, Sanji asked rather bluntly what Marco’s sexual preference was. He had raised his eyebrows, but Sanji had realised how it sounded and apologised. He just wanted to know if Marco was interested in girls.

“They’re all yours,” Marco answered. Hell, he wouldn’t have cared if Sanji had every man and woman in the world. Just as long as he stayed away from Ace.

Sanji still seemed to feel bad, so Marco just told him to buy him another beer. Hell, that would only mean he would get drunk sooner!

Inside, Sanji ordered two beers. Marco waited until the chef had taken a sip, before drinking half his own bottle in one draught. Sanji hardly touched his beer, checking the door every few minutes.

Marco ordered his second beer and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“What? Hell no!”

Marco was a little surprised to see a blush creep up Sanji’s face, but just shrugged and continued his drink. Sanji left him and went to flirt with some girls. Marco didn’t really care, as he was too occupied with getting drunk. After his third beer, he decided he needed something stronger. Thoughts of Ace drove him crazy. The same question kept repeating in his head: _Why Ace?_

How could anyone think Ace was responsible? He was kind, and funny. And gorgeous of course, though that wasn’t really a reason why he didn’t do it. But the others were! Ace would never do something like that. He was a good fireman. One that didn’t like to wear shirts…

He tossed down another glass of whiskey. It was cheap stuff anyway, not the kind one should enjoy and savour, but perfect to get drunk fast.

His vision as well as his thoughts blurred. The only thing he saw before his mind’s eye was Ace’s smiling face, grinning broadly. But suddenly it changed. The area around Ace turned dark, and suddenly tears streamed down the freckled cheeks. Like ten years ago…

Hastily, Marco took another draught to make the images disappear. When it didn’t work, he let his head fall on the bar. He didn’t want to see Ace cry… He wanted to hold him, kiss him…

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his arm. Someone talked to him, but he couldn’t understand the words. What was he doing here anyway? This wasn’t his house and he never went to bars alone, so where were his brothers?

Soft but strong hands helped him up. When did he fall down? And who was helping him? Suddenly, the hands roamed his pants. He wouldn’t let anyone touch him intimately like that, except…

Ace! Finally, he could touch the man he had longed for so long. He would tell him how he felt and hold him forever. And kiss him. He turned to his helper. The young man, hardly more than a boy, sure was the same age as Ace.

He grabbed the face close to his and leaned in, to kiss those soft lips that had haunted his dreams.

Only at the last second, his drunken brain realised that Ace wasn’t blond and that the cheeks before him were smooth, not a freckle in sight. And when did Ace grow a goatee?

Slowly, he realised that he wasn’t here with Ace. Of course he wasn’t. He could never tell him how he felt, not without telling him the truth. And then Ace would hate him forever.

* * *

The next morning, he woke up on his couch. Why was he sleeping here?

Slowly, the events from last night got back to him. The dinner at Zeff’s place, the revealing Ace had been arrested, the drinking…

He wasn’t hung over, he never was, so that was the only positive thing that had happened this week. He got up to make breakfast, when he realised that he couldn’t remember coming home last night. Hastily, he yanked the curtains aside. Much to his relief, his car stood safely parked on his drive way, not a scratch or dent in sight. He hadn’t driven in the state he was in last night, had he?

Franticly, he searched for his car keys. They weren’t in his pocket, or hanging on the hook next to the front door where he usually left them. He was already starting to panic and searching on the floor – in his drunken fit he might have dropped them unsuspecting – when he suddenly saw the bunch of keys lying on the coffee table. He never put them there…

Wait, he hadn’t been drinking alone last night. That young chef, Sanji, he had come to the bar with him. Rubbing his temples embarrassedly, he now remembered what had happened. He had felt hands on him, what he then had interpreted as someone feeling him up, but now that he thought about it, it had probably been Sanji looking for his car keys, as he hadn’t been fit to drive anymore. That explained how he had gotten home safely.

Sighing, he hung the keys in their usual spot, to prevent him from losing them again. He should probably give Sanji a call to thank him. After all, he did ruin Sanji’s chance with the girls he had been flirting with.

Taking a deep breath, he called him. Sanji was nice about it, saying that everyone got drunk sometimes. Marco didn’t explain why he had drunk that much, only mentioned that he was under a lot of stress. Which was true. Sanji assured him it wasn’t a problem and added grinning he didn’t mind driving a car like Marco’s. Marco thanked him for bringing him and his car safely home before hanging up. He felt a little better, despite knowing that Sanji had only been polite.

* * *

Getting out of the small cell was a relief, even if it was only to go to another small room to talk to his lawyer. The judge had decided he had to remain in custody as he was now a suspect in several arson cases.

“Have you talked to Smoker?” Ace asked excitedly when he saw Robin.

Her face however already answered his question and his smile disappeared. So he would be stuck here at least until the trial. If Smoker didn’t want to help him… Sighing, he sat down.

“I couldn’t find him.”

That made him look up. There was still hope?

“Nobody seems to know where he is, or at least isn’t allowed to tell me. Not even his partner.” Robin sat down on the other side of the table. “Although, I have a source who told me he is working on an undercover job. Which means we have a problem if we can’t find him in time.”

“So even if I would tell you I was with him, it couldn’t be confirmed?” Ace sighed.

“Were you?”

He looked up. “Doesn’t really matter what I say, does it?”

She smiled however. “Don’t let this discourage you. It will only make the case more… interesting.”

“Do you get a kick out of gambling with my freedom?” he laughed humourlessly.

“Who says I’m gambling?”

That made him laugh sincerely. In the short time he knew Robin, he had learned she was very good at her job and would do anything to win the case. However, that didn’t mean he trusted her completely. There was something about her, it was like she knew everything about him, every thought he had. That made him suspicious, but it wasn’t like he had much choice than to rely on her. Plus, he doubted he would find a better lawyer.

“That reminds me.” She handed him a bottle of pills. After Ace had heard he had to stay in jail awaiting his trial, he had confided to Robin that he was narcoleptic. Nobody aside from his grandfather knew about this at the police station, and it wasn’t in his medical file. He had tried several kinds of medication that should help with his condition, but they either didn’t work or had extreme side effects.

Assuming he would be acquitted on the charge, he didn’t want the fire station to find out about his condition, as he would surely lose his job. A fireman that could fall asleep at all times wasn’t very reliable after all. His friend Chopper had offered to get him in a trial of a new drug that should help him. He hadn’t had the chance to take him up on that offer yet, or actually, he had forgotten about it.

But as he didn’t really trust his fellow inmates or the guards, for that matter, he had asked Robin to stop by Chopper’s place. Dryly, she had commented that he was asking her to smuggle drugs, but when he said she shouldn’t worry because Gramps would help her out, she stated a little too calmly she wasn’t worried at all, having left Ace with an unsettling feeling.

“There is something else,” Robin continued.

He started from his thoughts. “Oh? What’s that?”

“Our biggest problem is the eyewitness who places you at the scene of the crime around the time it fire started,” she explained, calm as always.

His head shot up. “There is someone who claims he saw me there? That’s ridiculous! I wasn’t there, I’ve never been there!”

“Well, that’s were your non-existing alibi comes in. Mr Portgas, you have been picked out of an identity parade twice, once by the eyewitness and once by the head chef of the restaurant.”

That surprised him. They had asked Sanji about him? “Well, the latter one is obvious. I met him a little more than a day after the restaurant burned down. So yeah, he knows me,” he explained.

“How do you think that looks for the police?” she said thoughtful. “Don’t you think they suspect you to deliberately have met this chef, to avert suspicion from yourself?”

He stared at her, jaw hanging open. “What? I’m not some evil genius! It’s not my fault a friend of mine picked Sanji off the street and I happened to stop by!”

“Then perhaps you and your friend are in this together.”

He didn’t know his jaw could drop this low. “Whose side are you on?!”

She smiled reassuringly. “I’m only telling you how the police thinks. But your friend – Zoro it is, I believe – has already been cleared. If you were in this together, he would have provided you with an alibi, no doubt.”

“Then don’t give me a heart attack,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to drag anyone down with him. Hell, he would never let something happen to his friends!

“But that leaves the problem of the eyewitness,” Robin continued imperturbable. “He says he saw you there, and you don’t have an alibi to contradict that.”

“Who is this guy? Obviously he saw someone who just looked like me.”

“I’m not sure,” his lawyer mused. “He picked you out of an identity parade with five other men that looked like you and he seemed rather convinced. So I thought you might know him. His name is Akainu.”

At that name, Ace paled. “Yes, I know him,” he whispered. He prided himself with not being afraid of anyone, but Akainu was a whole other story. “His real name is Sakazuki. A few years back I was travelling around. I took a part time job in an office to earn some money. One day I when I passed a room, I heard two voices coming out of it. One sounded scared and the other very threatening. I peered around the corner, when I saw Akainu almost throwing a man out of the window. I think he owed Akainu money or something. I held my lighter near the smoke detector to make the alarm go off. It distracted Akainu enough to let the man go, but he was found dead a few days later. The police ruled it a suicide.

I told the police about what I saw, but they didn’t believe me and I didn’t have any proof. Akainu is a very respected business man. I know he saw me that day and a few attempts have been made on my life, but again there was nothing the police could do.

Lately, I haven’t heard anything from him, nor has he tried to kill me again. I assumed he had forgotten about me, or decided I wasn’t a threat.”

Robin thought for a moment. “Yes, I thought it might have been an attempt on revenge. I have been to the alley where the fire started at three in the morning. There is no way he could have distinguished you from the other men in the identity parade without coming close enough that you – had you been there – should have spotted him as well. And as the evil genius you are, you wouldn’t have just let him go, would you?” She smiled sinisterly. “But the police is happy to have someone behind bars, to ease the mind of the citizens. So at this point they don’t really care whether that person is guilty or not. Your trial is in a few weeks time and a sentence of three years in prison will be demanded.”

Ace nodded quietly. Three years in prison, and that only because Smoker was missing! Three years without freedom, without seeing his friends regularly. Three years without Marco…

Robin smiled, like she could read his dark thoughts. “Don’t worry,” she continued chuckling. “I’ll make sure these coming weeks will be the only ones you spend in jail.”


	8. Chapter 8

The time Ace spent in prison was rather boring. He was allowed to work to earn some money to pay for his television, but the work itself was mind-numbing. He could also train daily, but the guards kept a close eye on him, like he was going to knock someone out by punching him.

The highlight of his week was the hour he was allowed to have visitors. In his first week it were his brother and Zoro who came for him, the latter more to yell at him and the former to whine he was bored without Ace. Ace was kind of glad physical contact was forbidden, otherwise he was sure Zoro would have strangled him.

In a hushed tone, he explained how he had gotten into this mess and why he couldn’t get out, without naming Smoker. He only said his alibi couldn’t be confirmed. But, he added, when he saw the vain in Zoro’s forehead was about to pop, he had a really good lawyer who would get him out of here.

The rest of the little time they had they used to talk about more pleasant topics. Ace asked Zoro how things were going with Sanji, and a bit flushed Zoro admitted he had invited him to Vivi’s wedding to pretend to be his date. Ace burst into laughter and made Zoro promise to tell him all about it after the wedding.

Only now it sunk in that Acewouldn’t be able to go. “Tell her I’m really sorry and I’ll call her soon,” he impressed on his friend’s mind.

Time flew by and before they knew it, the hour was up. A guard approached them. He was a large, very muscular man, with extremely short hair. Something about him was familiar, but Ace shrugged it off. He had seen a lot of guards lately.

Only when de guard cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Zoro?”, it finally clicked. Zoro had recognised the guard as well. He stiffened. “Daz.”

Ace started to laugh. The guard happened to be the same guy Zoro had picked up in the bar a while ago. “Well, isn’t this nice and awkward,” he said grinning, earning himself a deadly look.

Daz turned to Zoro. “So, how are you?”

While the two exchanged awkward pleasantries, Ace explained to the confused Luffy that Daz and Zoro were friends. Luffy immediately declared that any friend of Zoro was a friend of his, causing Zoro to glare at Ace again.

* * *

Completely lost in thoughts, Marco played with the lighter he never had the chance to return. He flicked it open and made a flame appear, before closing it again. It was now his most valuable treasure. It was all he had left of Ace, he didn’t care how dramatic that sounded. Lovingly, he followed with his finger the letters imprinted on the lighter. _Firefist Ace_. He wondered where that nickname came from.

“Marco?” Izo’s voice broke through his thoughts.

He blinked up muzzily. “Yeah, I agree. We should definitely do that,” he said, in an attempt to cover up the fact that he hadn’t been paying attention.

Izo and Thatch exchanged a look. “Okay,” the latter said slowly. “Then it’s decided. We are going to celebrate Namur’s and Blenheim’s birthday.”

Marco looked up to his brothers confused. “But… Of course we’re going to do that! We do every year! That’s why we’re even here.”

His bothers exchanged a look again. “We know,” Izo said a little accusingly. “But you haven’t been listening to a word we said, have you?”

“I–” Marco started, but before he could finish his sentence, Izo continued: “And whose lighter is that anyway? You haven’t start smoking again, have you?”

Automatically, Marco wrapped his hand tightly around the small device, like he could protect Ace through it somehow. He stared down at the table again.

“He’s probably thinking about a certain fireman,” Thatch teased. “Which reminds me, I have invited Ace to the poker night again. Hope you don’t mind.”

“He won’t come,” Marco said emotionlessly, still absentmindedly caressing the lighter in his hand.

“What do you mean? He practically _begged_ me to invite him again.”

“He won’t come,” Marco repeated.

Thatch snorted. “You know, this isn’t about you anymore. Everyone liked him, so he’s coming, whether you like it or not!”

Marco kept silent and stared at the table.

“Marco, what’s wrong?” Izo sat down next to his brother, a hand on Marco’s arm.

Marco felt his throat tighten. He couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. “He’s been arrested,” he whispered. His hand clenched tightly around the lighter, causing his knuckles to turn white.

“What?!” Izo and Thatch exclaimed in chorus.

Marco swallowed a few times, fighting back tears. He was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Worriedly, Izo squeezed his arm slightly. Marco took a shaky breath and asked: “Have you heard about the fire at that restaurant, the Baratie?”

Thatch shook his head, as he lived in another city, but Izo said: “Yeah, it was a nice place. I have dined there a few times. Best food ever. Too bad it has burned down. But what happened?”

“It was arson,” Marco said in a monotone. “And Ace is the prime suspect.”

“Oh, you poor thing!” Izo flung his arms around Marco’s neck and hugged him tightly.

“Me? I’m not the one in jail,” he managed to bring out.

“No, but the one you love is.”

“I don’t…” He sighed, giving up.

“So, that’s his lighter you’re holding like your life depends on it?” Thatch asked, pointing to Marco’s hands. “Can I see it?”

Hesitantly, he handed the small device over. Thatch took it carefully and turned it around in his hands. Seeing the back with the inscription, he burst into laughter.

Izo, who was still making an attempt to comfort Marco, gave Thatch a sharp look of reproof.

“Sorry,” Thatch grinned. “It’s just so typical he has this engraved.”

“What is?” Izo asked, reaching out for the lighter.

“’Firefist’. It’s his nickname,” Thatch explained.

Marco looked up, while Izo examined the lighter. “Why do they call him that?” the latter asked.

Thatch shrugged. “Probably a combination of his job and his punches. He’s an amateur boxer.”

‘ _He’s a boxer.’_ Thatch’s voice kept repeating in his head. Suddenly, it was like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over him. That couldn’t be, right…? It had to be a coincidence. That his mystery man was a boxer as well and had stopped contacting him… at the same time as Ace was arrested.

“I gotta go,” he mumbled, snatching the lighter out of Izo’s hand. He made his way out of the house, leaving behind two confused brothers.

Inside his car, he took a few deep breaths and forced himself to think rationally. Ace and his stranger, could they really be one and the same? He flipped open his phone and scrolled through the messages he had received from the stranger. Had he given any indication he was Ace? But the only thing that he found was the fact that the stranger had said he practiced boxing. Now that he paid attention to it, the mystery man had said very little about his personal life. He never told what he did for a living.

 _‘He’s a fireman_ ,’ the nagging voice in his head said.

He looked at the lighter in his hand again. It was all very coincidental at the least. His mystery man was a boxer, just like Ace. Ace had been arrested and the stranger stopped contacting him. Plus, the one time they had spoken on the phone, he initially had thought he was talking to Ace…

So he really had been talking to Ace without knowing it? He had never attempted to make himself look better. He had just been himself…

Swallowing hard at the realisation that Ace must have liked what he read, as he had tried to meet with Marco, he wondered if Ace knew whom he had been texting to. When he had called Marco, he had said he dialled the wrong number, and just like Ace, Marco had revealed little about himself that Ace would be able to make a connection between Marco and his virtual self. Except that he had said he had fourteen brothers. That surely was a dead giveaway?

* * *

Daz came to get him from his cell a week after Luffy and Zoro had first come to visit. Ace was surprised, as he hadn’t invited anyone. Maybe his brother came to see him again?

But when he entered the visitor room, he immediately noticed it wasn’t _his_ brother waiting for him. Thatch was sitting at the table and was soon joined by Izo. They smiled at him when he sat down with them, still a bit confused. “Hey guys. What are you doing here?”

“Visiting you, of course,” Izo said smiling.

“Don’t think you can get rid of us so easily,” Thatch added teasing.

Ace laughed, happy to have visitors again, but then he got serious again. “How did you know I was here?” he asked carefully.

“Marco told us, obviously,” Izo snorted.

“He… did?” His heart was beating like mad. “So…” He almost didn’t dare to ask. “Is he coming too?”

Izo and Thatch exchanged a meaningful look. “Why?” the latter asked. “Would you like that?”

“It’s always nice to have visitors,” he mumbled, but didn’t dare to look the two brothers in the face.

“Well, he isn’t coming today, but perhaps we can persuade him into coming next time,” Izo said thoughtful.

“That’s not necessary!” Ace was sure his cheeks were bright red. And sure enough the brothers looked at each other again, so he quickly changed the subject. “But you didn’t have to go out of your way to visit me.”

“Nonsense, we can’t just leave you here by yourself! You’re one of the Whitebeard Pirates now.” Thatch winked at him.

“I am? Since when?”

“Well, not _officially_. You first have to make it through some tests. One,” he counted on his fingers, “meeting all our brothers. Two, partying with us. Three, getting Pops to accept you. And four, seducing Mar– Ouch!”

“I’d say three is the easiest part,” Izo said smiling, like he didn’t just kick his brother under the table.

Ace nodded confusedly.

* * *

The sound of the doorbell started him awake. He rubbed his eyes. He really shouldn’t make it a habit of falling asleep on the couch, but ever since he had found out Ace was in jail, he had trouble sleeping, even more than usual. Normally, he would spend the time he didn’t sleep reading or doing something useful, but now he couldn’t concentrate on anything.

His work started to suffer from it. One time when he couldn’t focus on the job he had absentmindedly started searching for a private investigator. He had no idea what kind of evidence the police had against Ace, but obviously, they couldn’t do their jobs right. He had found the website of a private investigator in Sabaody, called Zoro Roronoa. For some reason the man had green hair, but well, who was he to judge someone by their hairstyle. He doubted it would influence his abilities. But before he could sent an email, he changed his mind. He couldn’t give Zoro any more information then his gut feeling and though Zoro probably had had worked with less than that, there was also the hourly rate which was kind of expensive on his salary. He would have just have to trust the justice system.

In all, he couldn’t focus on his work and his boss had already reprimanded him. He couldn’t help it. Izo was right, he loved Ace. It was torture not to see him every day. He didn’t dare to visit him in prison. What would he say? ‘ _It turned out it was me you were texting_.’ He couldn’t say that. What if Ace didn’t know and he was disappointed?

Finding out it was very likely he had been texting with Ace the whole time – even spoken to him on the phone! – was hardly good for his blood pressure either. He was torn between being happy he had actually talked to Ace and said man had liked it, being depressed that Ace might be disappointed if he found out who his conversation partner was, and freaking out he had been actually talking to Ace. But if it really had been Ace, he must have just wanted to be friends. After all, Ace was taken, right?

In all, the emotional roller coaster he had gone through lately had exhausted him. He didn’t even mind that the poker night was cancelled, because nobody wanted to without Ace.

The doorbell rung again, longer this time. Sighing, he hoisted himself off the couch. Opening the door, he blinked a few times to be sure he was awake. On the doorstep ten children were standing, looking at him expectantly.

“What are you doing here?” he managed to bring out, recognising the children as his entire aikido class. Surely, they couldn’t all be lost.

“We’re here for you, Sensei,” Mira piped up. She held out a box. “You seemed depressed at the training, so we wanted to cheer you up.”

Surprised, he looked from the children to the box that was now pressed in his had. Opening it, he discovered there was a cake inside. It was a bit messy, obviously home made. The kids looked up at him expectantly and excitedly.

“Thank you,” he stammered, obviously touched by the gesture. “You shouldn’t have.”

“We were worried about you, Sensei,” the boy that looked like a little Ace said. Marco had forced himself to stop calling the boy “little Ace”, as he had soon found out his name was Arthur.

“That’s really sweet.” He noticed the boy was leering at the box he was holding. Smiling, he stepped aside. “Come on in then.”

Trying not to get trampled by ten overexcited children, he led the way to the living room where he told them to take a seat. They made themselves comfortable on the couch, chairs or simply the floor, while Marco went to the kitchen to cut the cake. Fortunately, he found in a cabinet some throw-away plates and cutlery; as a man living by himself he didn’t have enough crockery for eleven persons. For drinks, he collected every mug and glass he could find. Of those he had enough, it wasn’t the first time he had a large group over for drinks.

He carried in the plates and glasses – not all at the same time of course – to the living room and distributed them between the kids. Finally, he sat down on the couch where the children had saved him a spot. Taking a bite from his cake he asked: “You made this yourselves?”

Mira nodded proudly.

The cake was a bit slack-backed, but he decided not to comment on it. Instead, he asked: “Do your parents know you’re here?”

The guilty looks on their faces told him all he needed to know. He sighed. “Then how did you get here?”

“We took the bus,” one of the girls, Joyce, said.

Musing he nodded, trying to decide whether or not he should call the parents. Suddenly, he realised something. “Wait… How do you know where I live?”

“Ms Nojiko told us,” another girl, called Andrea, told him.

He sighed. “Of course she did.” That woman was capable of anything, but it did mean she probably would have informed the parents. Surely she would ask why they wanted to know where his house was?

“So why are you sad, Sensei?” Arthur asked suddenly.

He deliberately took a bite to think about how to answer that question. He should have seen it coming. Well, he didn’t have to explain everything, but it couldn’t hurt to let some of it out, right?

Smiling softly, he put down his fork and said: “Something bad happened to a friend of mine. So I’ve been a little distracted.”

“What happened?” the kids urged him.

He should have known better then to give a cryptic answer. “My friend has been arrested… for something he didn’t do.”

Silence fell in the room, until one of the boys named Frits piped up: “Then why has he been arrested, if he didn’t do it?”

“The police thinks he did it,” Marco answered honestly. “And I can’t do anything to help him.”

“Does he know how you feel?”

Marco almost choked on his drink. Coughing he looked at Joyce. “Pardon?”

“You feel really bad, right?” the girl explained her trail of thought. “And you want to help him, but you can’t, at least not in a physical way. But you can tell him how you feel, and say you’re there for him, right? I’m sure he will feel better then.” She smiled up at him.

He still stared at her in disbelieve. When did kids this age get so smart? Lost in thoughts, he caressed her head.

After they finished the cake, he told them it was time to go home. He was met with a choir of protests, some claimed they first wanted to see how their Sensei lived, others that they were sure there was still cake. He proved to them there wasn’t any left, but after insisting, they convinced him that he would take them home. Well, he couldn’t let them take the bus again, could he?

But there was no way ten kids plus himself would fit in his car.

Fortunately, Izo lived very close by and he was willing to help, any chance he got to meddle in his brother’s life he would take, no doubt. The children stared in awe at Izo.

“This is my brother Izo. He will take some of you home,” Marco explained.

They divided the kids according to where they lived, so that neither would have to drive all over town. The children that would be brought home by Izo didn’t seem too disappointed that they were separated from their Sensei, Izo was interesting enough.

They said goodbye and Marco hoisted the kids into his car. He actually only had place for four children, seatbelt wise, but he supposed for once it wouldn’t harm to take five, if he drove carefully. Arthur sat proudly on the passenger seat while he pointed Marco to his home.

It took some time to explain to the mother, who looked at him like he was some kind of child molester, that he was the new aikido trainer and the children were sweet enough to stop by to try and cheer him up. Eventually, she seemed to believe him and thanked him for bringing her son home. Fortunately, not all parents were that suspicious. Some were just very glad to meet the teacher – apparently, the kids spoke highly of him. The mother of Andrea came with the suggestion to organise a training where the parents could take part in, to finally see what their children were doing. He promised to think about it.

Finally home, he sighed when he saw the mess in the living room. Still, he couldn’t help but smile. He did feel a little better. It felt nice to know that the kids cared that much about him.

While he was collecting the plastic plates, the doorbell rang. Opening it, he smiled when he saw his brother. “Thanks for helping me out, Izo.” He stepped aside to let him in.

“No problem.” Izo paused before continuing: “It’s good to see you smile again.”

Marco kept silent as he continued collecting the dishes. In the kitchen, he put up the kettle for tea and rinsed two of the mugs previously used by the children. With a damping pot of tea and the two now clean mugs, he walked back to the living room, where Izo had made himself at home. “So why were those kids here? Or did you started a day-care?” he added sarcastically. It wasn’t a secret Marco loved children.

“No, those were the kids I train aikido.” Marco thoughtfully took a sip of his tea, not affected by the heat. “Apparently I seemed depressed.”

“Well, you are.”

Marco looked up at Izo’s words. “I’m not–”

“Oh, don’t even start that! I know you don’t like to show when you’re upset, or making people worry about you, but you’re obviously troubled about Ace. And that’s fine. You like him, don’t even try to deny that. You know,” he continued with a mischievous smile, “he asked for you. Ace, that is.”

Marco’s head snapped up, a bit too quickly. He tried to regain his composure. “Oh? You want some more tea?” He tried to sound uninterested, but inside he was dying to know more.

Izo, however, had noticed his mistake. “Thatch and I visited him in prison,” he continued undisturbed, knowing his brother would never ask. “He’s well, before you get overly concerned.”

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but he desperately wanted to know more about Ace and how he was doing. So he feigned indifference, pouring more tea and praying Izo knew him well enough to keep talking.

Fortunately, he did, whether it was for Marco’s sake or he just wanted to talk. “He’s kind of lonely. It’s sad to see. He misses his friends.”

“What does that have to do with me? I’ve never spoken to the kid, we’re not friends,” Marco interrupted him.

Izo snorted. “No, we’re trying to get you to be more than friends. Don’t you get it? You really have a shot with him.” He made an annoyed sound. “But I get it, you’re too stubborn to ever admit you like him to me. That’s fine. But promise me this: as soon as Ace is out of prison, you will ask him out.”

It was no question. It was a demand, and Marco knew that if he didn’t promise, or worse, didn’t keep his promise, Izo would make him regret it. Although Marco was First Division Commander, Izo never failed to intimidate him when he was like that. Arguing was useless.

He opened his mouth, but Izo raised a finger to stop him. “Before you answer, let me tell you this. If you don’t do it, I will do it for you.”

That was it. He was defeated. Either way Ace would find out Marco liked him. He could only pray Ace would say no, who knew what else would happen otherwise? Marco praised himself for his self-control, but he doubted he could resist long the temptation that was Ace.

But he didn’t have any choice. So sighing deeply, he nodded and said reluctantly: “I promise.”

It was a good thing Ace already had a boyfriend then.

* * *

Finally, he had gotten rid of Izo, who was annoyingly smug that he kind of had gotten Marco to admit his crush. Izo had tried to convince him to visit Ace, to speed along the process, but he had declined. He’d rather made a fool of himself on his own terms. Before leaving, Izo had reminded him of his promise and told him he would keep him to it. Like Marco didn’t know that.

He spent the rest of the day cleaning up the rest of the mess that was made by his guests. After that, he decided he should take a bath. Maybe that would help him relax.

However, before he could reach the bathroom, he heard the flap of the letterbox clatter. Curiously, since the postman shouldn’t stop by at this time in the evening, he had a look. On the doormat laid a white envelope. Only his name was written on it, so it had to be delivered by the sender. Surprised, he recognised Izo’s handwriting.

Opening the envelope, Izo’s business card fell out. Marco picked it up, turning it around. On the back was written: “ _You’re welcome_.”

Frowning, he pulled out the paper that was in the envelope, folded twice. Carefully, he unfolded the paper. And almost dropped it.

The paper contained a drawing, obviously of Izo’s hand. And it showed the person he had been thinking about the whole time. Ace. A very naked Ace.

Sitting down to prevent his knees from giving in, Marco ran his hand over his face and blinked a few times to ensure himself he w asn’t imagining things. But it was definitely a drawing of Ace. Somewhere in his mind he wondered when Izo had drawn this and if Ace had posed for it. The rest of his brain, however, was busy maintaining the little blood that hadn’t rushed south. In the drawing, Ace stood casually leaned back, hands behind his head and smiling his cheeky grin. Slowly, Marco’s glance slid further down. Though he had seen Ace’s naked torso hundreds of times, as Ace refused to wear a shirt aside from protective gear on the motorcycle and during a fire, he had missed seeing Ace parading around every day. Thank God Izo was such an amazing artist. Every muscle was accounted for and seemed to ripple under the skin, even though it was just a drawing.

Marco followed the trail of muscles down, his mouth gone dry. His eyes glanced over the trail of hair going down, the V-shaped muscles until… the paper ended. In a naïve attempt to see more, he tried to peer over the edge, but to no avail. “Damn tease,” he muttered, but his fingers nonetheless trailed over the drawn muscles. How would they feel in real life?

Making his way upstairs – being very glad he had decided to wear baggy pants today – he hardly could keep his eyes from the picture. In some weird way, he was glad Ace wasn’t entirely displayed. Then a surprise would remain when he had Ace lying on his bed, begging for– He stopped himself there. That would never happen. Hell, that could never happen! If he would have sex with Ace, the guilt would be unbearable. And telling the truth wasn’t an option either, Ace would hate him forever.

These thoughts, however, couldn’t prevent him from getting aroused, seeing Ace naked like that. He hated himself for it, this was art, dammit! He had looked at hundreds of drawings and paintings of Izo, showing people with various degrees of clothing and he never had gotten turned on by those! But this was Ace, his Ace, looking awfully tempting…

Sighing, he laid the drawing on his bed and headed for the bathroom. He was too old for this. And he was very much too old for Ace. Deciding that would be the last he would dwell on Ace, he turned on the hot water tap of the bath. Waiting as the tub filled up, he made some tea downstairs to bring along, and in his bedroom he collected the book he was reading. It was a children’s book called _The Phoenix and the Carpet_. He must have read it hundreds of times, but it always helped him relax.

In the bathroom, he stripped naked. His erection had apparently given up, deciding that Marco wasn’t going to touch it. Proud of his self-control, he stepped into the bathtub. The mirror was already misted over. Normal people would call the water boiling hot, but the heat never bothered him. He liked it even, it soothed him. And it came in handy if you had to share the bathroom with many brothers and one of them was trying to steal your bath.

Finally allowing his muscles to relax, he opened his book and started to read.

* * *

_Darkness surrounded him. He was standing somewhere, alone, where he didn’t know. He felt around him, but there was nothing._

_Suddenly, he heard footsteps approach. Brusquely, he turned to where the sound came from, ready to attack if necessary. He didn’t seen anyone at first, it was too dark, so he reached out. His fingers only grasped the air._

_But then a light appeared, a small flame, like someone had struck a match. It grew, until he could make out the person standing in front of him. A face covered in freckles, a cheeky smile, dark eyes…_

_He stared at Ace. He was so close… From the corner of his eye, he saw the flame grow again. He noticed Ace wasn’t holding a torch, it was his hand that was on fire. He wanted to scream, but Ace didn’t seem to be in pain. He kept smiling._

_The flame spread out, covering Ace’s arm and slowly the rest of his body. Ace reached out to Marco, grasping his hand and intertwining their fingers. Marco gasped. He saw his own hand disappearing in flames as well, but not orange ones like Ace’s. His fire had a beautiful light blue colour and felt cool against his skin._

_The two colours flames mixed and danced around each other. Marco was amazed how the orange, warm fire felt against his own cool blue. They fitted together perfectly…_

* * *

The doorbell started him awake. When had he fallen asleep? The bottom of his book had gotten wet, because he was still holding it when sleep took over. Cursing, he placed it on a safe place, while hoisting himself out of the tub. The water had cooled off already. What time was it?

The doorbell rung again. Hastily, he let the water drain, dried off and threw on his clothes. Why did he have so many unexpected visitors today?

Opening the door, he was greeted by an unknown woman. She had long, black hair and piercing blue eyes. “Mr Fenwick?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Who wants to know?”

She smiled, seemingly amused by his suspicious behaviour. “My name is Robin Nico. I am Mr Portgas’ lawyer.”

Hearing Ace’s name made him freeze. Why would Ace’s lawyer be here?

“Mr Fenwick?” she repeated.

He looked up, startled from his thoughts. “Yeah?”

She smiled again, a little victorious this time. “I’m sorry to bother you at this hour.”

Marco looked at the clock. It was half past eight. “Not at all,” he said politely, but distantly. “How may I help you, Ms Nico?”

“If you have the time, I’d like to go over the report you wrote on the fire at the Baratie.”

“It’s my evening off,” he said coolly. “You can reach me during office hours.” He patted himself down and brought a business card out of his pocket, handing it to her.

“I feared you might say that, but I assure you it won’t take long. And you would help Mr Portgas out very much,” she added, still smiling.

He was torn. On one hand, he shouldn’t work if he didn’t get paid for it. On the other hand, he would helping Ace. And it wasn’t like he had much else to do tonight, anyway.

Cutting the knot, he stepped aside and let Ms Nico pass. He pointed her to the living room, before offering her coffee, which she accepted politely.

A few minutes later, he sat down next to Ms Nico on the couch, placing two damping mugs on the coffee table. Robin had pulled some files out of her briefcase and was flipping through them until she found what she was looking for. “You’ll have to forgive me, in your report you used some terms I’m not familiar with,” she explained. “This is my first arson case.”

“Really? What kind of cases do you handle normally?” he asked, sipping from his coffee.

An unsettling smile appeared on her face. “Murder.”

Involuntarily, he swallowed and decided this was a woman he didn’t want to have as his enemy. The public prosecutor would have a hard time making his case. A smile appeared on Marco’s face. Ace’s chances were looking up.

He explained some of the terms Robin pointed out, though he got the feeling she knew damn well what they all meant, but perhaps he was too suspicious. Why else would she be here?

“I hope I have not interrupted you with something,” she suddenly said.

“Not at all,” he responded, partly to be polite, partly because he didn’t want to elaborate.

They had just finished the final page of the report, when Robin asked: “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“It’s upstairs, second door on your left.” He’d rather not that she would go there, as it was still a mess. The air would be damp by the hot water and he had thrown his towel carelessly on the floor. He hadn’t expect visitors, after all. But he couldn’t really say no, especially to a woman, right?

When she had left the room, Marco suddenly noticed another file folder on the pile. Not exactly sure why he was so curious, he pulled to file towards him and flipped it open.

He was greeted by two pictures of Ace, one from the front and one from the side. He was reading Ace’s police report! Swallowing hard, because he was feeling like he was invading Ace’s privacy, he read it through. It contained information about the evidence against him. Apparently, jerry cans of petrol had been found in Ace’s garage and Ace didn’t have an alibi for the night of the fire.

Marco’s eyes kept flicking back to the photos. On one hand it was nice to see Ace, the real him, again, but this weren’t the pictures he’d like to see. He rather had some of a smiling Ace, doing something he liked.

Footsteps came down the stairs again. Quickly, he closed the folder and put it back where he found it. Just in time before Robin came in. “You have a lovely home,” she said.

“Thank you,” he responded, before he realised something. Something horrible. He had left his bedroom door open. And on the bed still lay Izo’s drawing of Robin’s client!

Before he started panicking, he reminded himself that the drawing was art, and it was very normal to have art in one’s room – wasn’t it? And maybe it was a little weird it was lying on his bed, but he could just have been looking for a place to hang it, right? And maybe she hadn’t even seen it.

Still, he couldn’t shrug the feeling that the woman facing him knew every dirty thought he had ever had about Ace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Phoenix and the Carpet is a book by E. Nesbit, published in 1904


	9. Chapter 9

The time he spent in prison was pure agony for Ace. The pills he got from Chopper helped him with his narcolepsy, but like all other medication he had used, they had a nasty side effect. Now he didn’t fall asleep at random times, but he had trouble to fall asleep _at all_. He’d never thought _he_ would suffer from insomnia.

With each day passing by it became more tempting to get off the medication. Usually his narcoleptic attacks saved him from boredom and his own thoughts. But now, at night, he found himself staring at the ceiling and wondering about all kinds of stuff. Mostly Marco. Now that he had gotten over the initial shock of being in prison, he started to remember things he actually had to do.

One of those was meeting Marco at the sports bar. He hadn’t gone, of course, nor had he cancelled. He could have called Marco, but he only had ten minutes to call per week. Besides, telling someone he couldn’t make it because he was in prison wasn’t really the best way to make a good impression. And the weekend they had their date was the first week he was locked up. He was ashamed to admit that he had forgotten about it at that time. Would Marco have come? He probably thought he had been stood up. Poor Marco.

During the day, he worked, earning only a fraction of what he was used to, but the money he could use to get cable or a rent fridge for in his cell. He chose the latter, at least he could have some extra food in stock. Not that the prison food was horrible, but well, he wasn’t picky. The work was hardly as exiting as his real job and frankly quite mind numbing. Because the work couldn’t distract him, he still had too much time to think. Which resulted into feeling guilty about standing Marco up.

He was allowed to work out and he liked to practice his boxing, but the guards looked upon him warily like he was about to start a prison break or something.

The perks of his week were the hourly visits. Usually, it were Luffy and Zoro that stopped by, sometimes Nami and Chopper tagged along. Vivi also stopped by once, after he had called her and explained why he couldn’t make it to the wedding. She was freaking out about him being there and she even offered to postpone the wedding. He had told her not to worry and to just get married. He would catch up with the stories.

Now that he was in prison he started to realise who his real friends were. Johnson, Smith and Jones came only by once, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. Especially Johnson acted strange around him. Thatch and Izo did stop by several times, bringing greetings from the other brothers. He didn’t really dare to ask about Marco.

“So, how are you doing, kid?” Thatch asked when he and Izo visited him again.

Ace groaned and let his head fall on the top of the table. “I’m so bored!”

“We figured as much. That’s why we’re here,” Izo said smiling. “Marco didn’t stop by, did he?”

Ace shook his head, trying not to look too disappointed.

Izo made an annoyed sound. “And after I explicitly told him to…” he grumbled.

“Well, I don’t know if he was planning on coming, but Marco told me your lawyer,” Thatch looked at Ace, “has advised him not to.”

“Why?” Izo and Ace asked at the same time. The latter was a bit confused. Robin didn’t tell him she had had contact with Marco.

Thatch shrugged. “Conflict of interest or something. Marco’s going to the trail as expert witness. So if you two are friends, that may cloud his judgement. Something like that.”

“That kind of makes sense,” Izo mused.

Ace still wondered when Robin had talked to Marco. But of course she might, if she had questions about the report or something. She hardly ever told him what she was doing anyway, but he trusted her. And it was nice to think Marco would have visited him, if Robin hadn’t advised him against it.

“Which reminds me,” Thatch continued, starting Ace from his thoughts, “I’m sorry, but both Izo and myself aren’t going to be able to make it to your trial.”

Ace nodded a little disappointed. “Of course.”

“Our thoughts will be with you,” Izo said smiling. “And,” he added in a meaningful tone, “Marco will be there.”

“I know. He’s an expert witness.” Ace tried to sound indifferent, but he felt his cheeks turning red.

Thatch and Izo both burst into laughter. “You totally like him!” the former said.

“No, I don’t!” He couldn’t look the grinning brothers on the other side of the table in the eye, his cheeks burning.

Izo rolled his eyes. “Well, you two would be perfect for each other. Both stubborn as hell.”

* * *

Ace found himself waiting in a neatly decorated office for his psychologist to show up. The police wanted to find out the roots of his pyromaniac tendencies, as they called it. He had hoped this woman would conclude he was innocent, but she seemed to have already decided he was guilty and was determined to find out what caused him to commit arson.

The door of the office opened and Kalifa Bubble entered. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, not sounding very sorry at all. Just polite.

“All time I spend outside that cell is fine with me,” he answered in the same tone.

Kalifa took a seat across him and flipped open her notepad. “Let’s see where we left off last time. Ah yes, we were getting closer to the roots of you obsession with fire. Tell me, did something important happen in your childhood with a connection to fire? Did your house burn down? Did you lose a loved one?”

Brusquely, Ace got up and strolled over to the window. He stared outside. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s why you’re here, Mr Portgas.”

“I’m not a pyromaniac!”

Kalifa flipped a few pages back on her notepad. “In earlier sessions we already established you have a fascination for fire and flames. You admitted that in your youth you started bonfires.”

“Yes, I did. I think flames are beautiful. But I would never endanger someone!” Ace had started pacing up and down frustrated.

“That’s just it, isn’t it? The restaurant was set on fire at three in the morning. Nobody was there, Mr Portgas. Nobody’s life was in danger.”

Ace’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “I didn’t do it!”

“Mr Portgas, please sit down. I’m trying to help you.”

“You’re trying to pin this arson case on me! You’re trying to see what drives an arsonist to write a book about it. Isn’t that so?!” He pointed at her accusingly.

She pushed up her glasses. “That’s sexual harassment.”

Ace opened his mouth, but closed it again, probably resembling a goldfish. What did he say that was sexual harassment?

“Sit down.”

This time he did as she said.

“Good. Now tell me.”

Sighing, he rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. “When I was twelve, my best friend died in a fire.”

She scribbled something down. “Did your attraction with fire start then?”

“No! I’ve always been intrigued by flames. That night I woke up, like I always did and do when there is a fire nearby.” His gaze was aimed at the wall, but his thoughts were far away. “Everything that happened that night… It made me want to become a fireman.”

“You’d be surprised how many fire fighters become pyromaniacs,” Kalifa said while pushing up her oval glasses. “After a traumatic experience involving fire. You’re right, I’m writing a book on that subject. You are a fascinating case.”

Ace snorted. “Well, at least one of us is happy.”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

* * *

“Are you nervous?” Robin asked.

It was the day of the trial. Today would decide his fate. Spending three years in jail, or being released with apologies. He didn’t worry about it much, though. He had faith in his lawyer, who he knew had done everything in her power to ensure his release. His friends would be there to support him, as would Marco.

Marco… It would be nice to see him again. He wondered if Marco was nervous. If this was his first job as arson inspector, it would be his first time testifying as well, right?

“Nah, I know you’ll get me out of here,” he shrugged in answer to Robin’s question. Yes, he was a little nervous, but more for seeing Marco again then for the trail itself. Or perhaps falling asleep. A few days ago, he stopped taking his medication. The insomnia was driving him crazy and he decided he’d rather fall asleep in the middle of court than to say something stupid with a sleep deprived brain.

“I just wished I didn’t have to wear a suit,” he continued, pulling at the band of his shirt in an attempt to get some more air. He hated to wear shirts anyway, they always made him feel trapped.

Robin gave him a reprimanding look and fixed his tie. “I can’t let you sit in a courtroom without a shirt, Mr Portgas.” With a smile, she added: “You can take it off after you’ve been acquitted.”

Seeing his lawyer having faith in the case made him grin.

At that moment, a guard came to pick them up. The trial would start soon.

The courtroom was already quite filled. He didn’t know most people, but when he saw Luffy, Zoro and Nami, he grinned broadly at them. Chopper had an exam today, so he couldn’t make it, but had wished him the best of luck. Zoro had told him Sanji would be there as well, but it seemed like Sanji hadn’t made it yet. He also recognised some firefighters. His eyes scanned the crowd for a glimpse of blond, but he didn’t see Marco anywhere.

“Witnesses are being brought in when it’s their time to testify,” Robin stated, like she had read his mind. She probably did.

He was placed at a table facing where the judges would sit. Robin had explained the trial to him. Because in his case a prison sentence of more then one year was demanded, there would be three judges. The procedure was fairly simple, he didn’t have to do anything, not even answer if when he was being questioned, as he had right to silence, but he did have to keep wearing handcuffs.

Robin took a seat on his right. On the platform across him the three judges would sit. On their left, was where the clerk of the court would be seated and on the right side of the judges, the public prosecutor would sit.

Ace looked over his shoulder again. He saw a blond man taking a seat next to Zoro. He smiled. So Sanji did made it. His grandfather was present as well, looking grumpy as he sat somewhere in the back.

Finally, the doors of the courtroom were closed. The courtroom messenger opened the two doors in the front of the room and called Ace’s name and announced the judges. Though the door on Ace’s left entered the public prosecutor and via the right the clerk of the court and the three judges.

“The public prosecutor is a man named Rob Lucci. He is very passionate about his job and will do anything to win,” Robin told Ace in a hushed tone. “They don’t call him the Leopard for nothing: he sneaks up to his pray and when you least expect it, he strikes.”

“Shouldn’t you be nervous then?” Ace asked, repressing the urge to pull on his tie.

She smiled a little disturbingly. “Who says _I’m_ not ruthless?”

Once again, he was glad this woman was on his side.

First, Ace was asked if his name and address were correct by the judge called Sengoku. He was the one sitting in the middle, with a hammer lying in front of him. His black hair was tied in a braid, just as his ridiculously long goatee. He wore round glasses. After that, Ace was told he was not obligated to answer questions. Other technicalities were also dealt with.

Next, Rob Lucci got up to speak. He explained Ace was suspected of committing arson. For damaging property, namely the restaurant the Baratie, three years in prison were demanded.

“What is your response on the charge?” Sengoku asked Ace.

“Not guilty, Your Honours,” he declared.

“It seems like you have no alibi. Where were you at time of the fire, Mr Portgas?”

He sighed. Robin had assured him she had been looking for Smoker and he had no reason to doubt her, but Smoker was nowhere to be found. Ace’s pride didn’t allow him to betray him , even if they didn’t always get along. “I was at work until one in the morning. Like I told the police, I can’t tell you what I did after that,” he stated.

Other questions that were asked he answered the same as he had done to the police. He had no idea how the petrol had gotten into his garage. The jerry cans might be his, he wasn’t sure.

After the judges, the public prosecutor and Robin were done asking him questions, it was time for the first witness to appear.

The doors of the courtroom opened and the messenger entered, followed by Marco. Ace had turned around in his seat and almost squealed in excitement. Marco didn’t seem nervous, like always he was looking rather bored. Ace followed him with his eyes. Marco was looking really good. Like on the first day he stared working in the fire station, he was wearing a suit, but Ace couldn’t remember he had looked _this_ good. Marco’s suit was black, with a light blue shirt matching his eyes and a tie in a darker blue shade. Biting his lip, Ace pulled on his own orange one. It was really tempting to rip that suit right off…

Marco was seated on a table on Ace’s left. He was a little nervous about speaking today – not that he would ever admit to that. Ace’s lawyer Robin had explained him that he only had to answer the questions he was asked, which would revolve around the fire and what he had concluded.

He tried not to look at Ace, but it was like his glace was drawn to him. Despite spending weeks in jail, Ace was looking rather well. Marco had never seen him in a suit before… Like his own, Ace’s suit was black. Underneath he wore a blue with orange dotted shirt and an equally orange tie. The shirt should be horrible, but somehow Ace pulled it off. It was odd not to see his exposed chest, though that wouldn’t be very fitting in a courtroom. However, Marco wouldn’t have minded to see a little more of Ace’s skin. Or lick it, for that matter.

Focusing on the trial again, he declared his name and swore he would tell the truth. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ace leaning towards his lawyer and whisper something.

“During your questioning, could you ask him to remove his shirt?” Ace asked Robin in a hushed tone.

“Why?”

He couldn’t help but grin. “’Cause he looks hot without one.”

She sighed, but still her mouth was curved in an amused smile.

At the request of the prosecutor Marco explained how he thought the fire had started and at what time. Based on his findings, Marco determined the fire had started around three in the morning. Petrol had been poured around the Baratie, which had been lit.

Ace stopped listening after a while. He knew how the fire was set, Robin already explained it to him. Somehow, Marco made it sound like being an arson inspector was the most boring job in the world. He probably had told the story many times already. Though the subject might not be the most exciting, having heard it recited for the second time, it was nice to hear Marco’s voice again. And him talking gave Ace a good excuse to check the man out. He looked quite the same, still droopy eyes and some stubble on his chin. Every once in a while, Ace caught the blue eyes flicking in his direction. It made him smile.

Eventually, the public prosecutor was satisfied with Marco’s answers and handed the floor to Robin. She got up and brushed the wrinkles out of her suit.

“Do you know the defendant, Mr Fenwick?” her clear voice sounded through the room.

Marco sat up straight, caught off guard by the question. However, the public prosecutor interfered before he could answer, objecting, and saying Marco served as an expert, not a witness. Judge Sengoku consulted the other judges, but then said: “Answer the question, Mr Fenwick.”

Marco choose his words carefully, before he said: “Define know. Yes, we work in the same building, but I haven’t spoken to him before.”

It was true. Ace had talked to him multiple times, but he had never been able to answer, either because something interrupted or he didn’t trust his own voice. Marco didn’t really understand where Robin was getting at, but he feared the worst.

“Why’s that?” Ms Nico asked casually.

Marco shrugged, his usual boring expression on his face, though in his mind he was starting to freak out. He decided to remain vague. “You can’t talk to everyone, can you?”

The prosecutor objected again. “What’s the point of this interrogation?”

“Come to the point, Ms Nico,” the judges agreed.

“Very well.” A sly smile appeared on Robin’s face. “Mr Fenwick, despite never talking to my client, Mr Portgas is rather popular at the fire station. Have you ever heard stories about him?”

Marco thought back on everything he had ever heard about Ace. It had already started on his first day here in Sabaody. The station manager had said Ace was one of his best guys. Everyone spoke of him laudatory. He couldn’t help but smile. “Of course. He is considered on of the bravest firemen, having never backed down. He has saved numerous children from a certain death in the flames. I’ve seen him train as well. He works really hard, always. But well, I suppose his hot body is already evidence of that–”

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe he had actually said that, in a courtroom at that. He didn’t dare to look at Ace.

Ace’s head snapped up. Did he hear that right? After all this time wondering whether Marco was gay, Marco had just declared under oath he thought Ace was hot! A smirk appeared on his face, his mind already working on how he could use this information.

The answer Marco gave threw the public into a turmoil. The judges, however, weren’t happy with Marco’s reply. Annoyed, Sengoku beat with his gavel to get the people quiet and snarled to Marco: “Mr Fenwick! I will not have these outrageous flirtations in my courtroom!”

Though he still couldn’t believe what he had blurted out, Marco’s face had gone back to its usual bored expression, although his heart was still beating fast. “I apologise, Your Honours.” What else could he say?

Suspiciously, he looked at Robin, who – much to his dread – smiled like she had foreseen all this. He still didn’t understand why she had asked these questions. Apparently, she had wanted to demonstrate Ace was a good firefighter and very loved at that. Or had she intended for him to make a slip of the tongue?

Robin turned to the judges. “No further questions.”

Marco rose to leave the witness stand. His eyes flicked over to Ace, who was staring at him intensely. When Ace noticed him looking, he grinned broadly, causing Marco’s heartbeat to speed up again. Quickly, he made his way to the back of the courtroom and took a seat. Scorpion, who was sitting in the audience as well, turned around and looked at him suspiciously. Marco gave him a black stare back.

The next witness was the arresting officer.

“Inspector Momonga, could you please describe how you came to arrest the defendant?” the public prosecutor asked.

Momonga brushed his moustache. “We received an anonymous phone call tipping us to pay Mr Portgas a visit. In the garage, we found several jerry cans of petrol. Mr Monkey, the defendant’s brother who lives in the same house, had an alibi, contrary to Mr Portgas. The defendant has as well a history of starting small fires when he was younger.”

Robin rose after the public prosecutor was finished with his questions. “Inspector Momonga, the small fires my client has supposedly started, is he ever been charged for that?”

“No, they have been discarded as actions of a rascal. But they have been recorded in his file.”

Robin nodded. “And have you ever found out who gave you the anonymous tip?”

“We did not. But a few days later an eyewitness reported to the police. Mr Portgas refuses to answer where he was at the time, only drawing suspicion on himself.”

“But other than that, was my client co-operative?”

“He was. The only question he didn’t want to answer was his own whereabouts,” Momonga answered.

The third witness to testify was the owner of the burned down restaurant, a grumpy looking man named Zeff. Ace stared in awe at the impressive moustache. The man answered gruffly some questions about the Baratie, how long he had owned the restaurant and what the place had meant to him. He also explained he had not been in town the night of the fire and that his head chef had taken care of things.

But even though the restaurant owner was the victim, he couldn’t say he had ever seen Ace’s face before, not even as a costumer or hanging outside the building. The public prosecutor left it at that and Robin didn’t have any questions. Ace shot her a worried look.

Next to answer questions was another expert, the psychologist Kalifa Bubble. The nagging feeling that the case was not going very well became stronger. Ace hoped that Robin knew what she was doing.

“Ms Bubble, have you had sessions with the defendant?” the judge on Sengoku’s left, called Dalmatian, asked.

Kalifa pushed up her glasses. “That’s sexual harassment.”

Sengoku sighed. “It is not, Ms Bubble. Have you spoken to Mr Portgas and come to your conclusions as a psychologist?”

“I have.”

The prosecutor took over. “I’ll cut right to the chase. Do you think the defendant Mr Portgas is capable of arson?”

“Mr Portgas has revealed to me his motives to join the fire brigade. He decided to become a fireman after he lost a friend of his by fire when he was a child. Many pyromaniacs have gotten a fascination with fire after a traumatic experience caused by fire.” She stroked a lock of hair behind her ear.

“So, do you think he is the pyromaniac?” the prosecutor asked.

She pushed up her glasses. “I think it’s highly probable.”

“Liar!”

Ace turned around surprised when his brother called out. He saw both Zoro and Nami trying to restrain the furious Luffy. He couldn’t help but smile.

Sengoku hammered impatiently on his desk. “Sir, behave yourself or I’ll have you removed!”

Nami whispered something in Luffy’s ear – probably about food – and he seemed to calm down. Reluctantly, he sat down again.

Ace waited a second before turning around again, making eye contact with Marco. He only turned back when he head Lucci say to Robin: “Your witness.”

Robin rose and walked over to the psychologist. Nothing could be read of her face. “Ms Bubble, this information my client had revealed to you, it was during a session, was it not?”

“Yes.”

“And isn’t it true that as a psychologist you are bound by professional secrecy?”

“Yes.”

“Then haven’t you violated this by repeating something that was brought to your knowledge in confidence?”

Kalifa was taken aback. “Well, if it’s to protect the majority–”

“So you are to decide what is for the good of the majority?” Robin accused.

The prosecutor objected to that and Robin withdrew the question, but she had made her point. Kalifa’s authority as a psychologist had been shaken and the judges seemed to think so too. With a triumphant smile, Robin sat down. Ace sighed in relief, unbeknownst to him that back in the courtroom Marco did the same.

All colour drained from Ace’s face, however, when the next witness came to the stand. He knew that Akainu would be called to the stand, he was the so-called eyewitness – a lying one – but seeing him again was quite terrifying. Had he wished Marco to hold him before, it was nothing compared to how he now longed to have his comforting strong arms around him.

Even from where he was sitting, Marco could see the change in Ace’s pose. The man had been quite relaxed throughout the trial, at least in his body language, but now he was completely tense. Something about this eyewitness really scared him. Marco didn’t like to see the object of his desire like that. He really wished he could walk up there and comfort Ace.

“Mr Akainu,” the public prosecutor started with a sly smile on his face. “You claim to have seen the pyromaniac burn down the Baratie. Do you recognise the defendant as the arsonist?”

“I do,” Akainu replied after a short pause.

Ace stared at him, hoping his hatred would cause the business man to explode. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He looked worried at Robin, who gave him a reassuring smile.

The prosecutor continued. “Mr Akainu, could you please name the time the fire started?”

“It was about three o’clock at night.”

“That is the same time Marco named,” the prosecutor said triumphant.

Next, it was Robin’s turn to ask questions. Straightening, she walked over to the witness. “Mr Akainu, you claim to have seen my client at the time of the fire at the burned down restaurant, correct?”

“Objection! This question was already answered,” the public prosecutor said.

Judge Tsuru, the third judge, nodded. “Proceed, Ms Nico.”

“Of course. Mr Fenwick explained to us that the fire started in the alley behind the restaurant. What were you doing there, Mr Akainu?”

“It’s a shortcut to my house.”

“I see. Are you aware that the alley doesn’t have lampposts? How were you able to see the arsonist well enough to point him out in this courtroom?”

“I had a pocket torch.” Akainu didn’t hesitate.

“But you weren’t spotted by the arsonist?” Robin inquired.

“Apparently not.”

Before Robin could ask the next question however, the messenger came in and whispered something to her. She nodded and asked permission to approach the bench, quickly followed by the public persecutor. Confused, Ace looked around, trying to get some clarification from Robin. Was this good or bad news?

After some consultation, Sengoku announced that they would adjourn the court for an hour to confer.

Robin only gave him a mysterious smile for now and Ace could only hope she would explain him later. Her smile did get his hopes up, however. If it was bad news, she would not do that, right?

Equally confused was Marco, when he was leaving the courtroom with everyone else in the audience. He hoped it was good news. He didn’t like that man Akainu. No one could make Ace feel like that, scared and tense. He wouldn’t allow it.

Scorpion Johnson cast him another deadly look and he noticed some of the other firefighters whisper and point in his direction. He couldn’t care less.

Suddenly, his phone started to vibrate. Flipping it open, he saw it was Izo.

“Oh my God, you’re answering! Does that mean the trial is over?” his brother demanded immediately after he had picked up.

“Not yet. Something has come up and the judges need to confer.”

“Oh,” Izo said disappointed. “How is it going then?”

Marco sat down on a bench. “I’m not sure… He has a great lawyer.” He decided not to tell his brother of his mistake, he wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“What are they conferring about?”

“I have no idea.”

“How’s Ace holding up?” Izo continued his interrogation.

Marco sighed. “Good, at first. But then some guy came to the stand who claims to have seen Ace setting the fire. He became very tense at that.”

It stayed silent for a moment. “That’s not true, right?” Izo then asked carefully. “He didn’t do it, right?”

“I don’t believe he did. The police says he doesn’t have an alibi, but the report said that he just didn’t want to give it.”

“I won’t ask how you know what the police report says, but why do you think he is so secretive about where he was?” Izo asked.

Marco stared at the wall opposite of him. He had wondered about that, but could only think of one thing. “To protect his secret boyfriend.”

Another pause fell. “Boyfriend?” Izo shrieked then. “But– He is not supposed to have a boyfriend! How do you even know?!”

Marco sighed again. “I saw them fight once. They sounded very… Couple-like.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Oh Marco, I’m so sorry for pushing you…”

“It’s fine.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?” his brother repeated, this time accusingly.

He shrugged, not realising the other man couldn’t see him. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Yes, it does!” Izo suddenly burst out. “Maybe there is a boyfriend now, but he certainly won’t be there for long. Marco, Ace _likes_ you. He really does! Arg, I have to go now, but you better call me when the trial is over!”

* * *

About an hour – probably the longest hour of his life – later, the court was in session again. Judge Sengoku cleared his throat. “It appears we have a surprise witness. Despite the fact that this is highly unorthodox, we will allow it. Ms Nico has stated to have no further questions for Mr Akainu, therefore we will continue with the next witness, who is an eyewitness as well.”

The public prosecutor didn’t look very happy. The sly smile was wiped off his face. Marco hadn’t really trusted the guy to begin with, so this was definitely a good thing. That, and the fact that Ace now looked quite relaxed.

The doors of the courtroom opened and a grey-green haired man entered. The small smile that was on Marco’s face now there seemed to be hope again, vanished into thin air. Marco didn’t doubt this man, Ace’s boyfriend, was there to help out Ace. This only could mean that Ace had been with his boyfriend the night of the fire. Which of course meant Ace was innocent, but Marco really did not want to know what the two of them had been doing.

After the witness had taken his seat, judge Sengoku asked him to state his name and profession. “Smoker, captain on the police force,” came the gruff reply.

Robin stood up. “Do you know the whereabouts of the defendant on the night of the burn down of the Baratie?”

Marco closed his eyes.

“Yes. He was with me.”

Again the public was stirred up and had to be silenced by Sengoku’s hammer.

Robin smiled. “When did you meet?”

“He came to my house around two in the morning on the night in question. He stayed till after five. During that time, he didn’t leave my sight. My neighbours can vouch for that.”

Marco wanted to leave the courtroom, but forced himself to stay. If they dated, of course they had sex. That was why the next answer Smoker gave, surprised him a little.

“Why did you wait until now to testify?” Robin continued.

“I like my privacy. That brat… Mr Portgas and myself have an agreement not to talk about what we do at night. He has stuck to that till the very end, as you all have witnessed. I only heard today that they had found an eyewitness, as I was being buried in work. But though what Mr Portgas and I have can hardly be described as a relationship, the brat doesn’t deserve to go to prison for it.”

Robin smiled slightly. “Then what is it you have, Mr Smoker?”

“Call it stress relieving. We’re not in love or anything. The boy might be an idiot, but he is an innocent idiot.”

Marco sat frozen. So… They weren’t dating? Or would the police officer just say that not to embarrass himself? But he was under oath…

Sengoku nodded. “I’ve heard enough. Prosecutor, your closing speech?”

Lucci still seemed convinced Ace was guilty and in his closing speech, he tried to prove it to the judges. One of the eyewitnesses was lying, or had at least made a mistake. Though it was most likely that was Akainu, as Smoker had to know who he was fucking, Lucci twisted it in such a way that he managed to cast doubt upon the captain of the police force. Apparently, he had the tendency to carry out his own judgement. He also mentioned casually that there had been no fires in the time Ace had been in prison.

After Lucci’s argument, it was Robin’s turn to give her vision on the case. She turned the public prosecutor’s speech around, making Akainu’s story less believable, by stressing it was dark in the alley and that the business man easily could have seen someone else. She pointed out making mistakes was human, getting across more sympathetic then Lucci.

Finally, Ace got the last word. Sengoku asked: “Now that the air is cleared, Mr Portgas, will you tell us where you were at the night of the fire?”

“I was working until one o’clock in the morning. I was at captain Smoker’s place at two and didn’t leave until five,” Ace declared shrugging. There was no need to hide anymore. He just wished Luffy wasn’t in the courtroom.

“Why didn’t you tell this before?”

“Captain Smoker and I have the agreement not to talk about our… nightly adventures. Personally I don’t care, but the captain likes his privacy and doesn’t need the world to know who he chooses to sleep with.”

* * *

The judges had already been consulting for over an hour. Had the first hour seemed long, now it felt like the time had frozen entirely. Marco had brought a book, but he couldn’t focus. Part of him wanted to leave, but he needed to know the verdict as well.

Finally, there was announced that a judgement would be passed. After the doors of the courtroom had been closed again, Sengoku cleared his throat. “Will the defendant please rise?”

Ace did as he was bid, along with Robin.

“Like many, we as judges don’t like being fooled. And we feel like that is exactly what has happened in this case. There were not one, but two eyewitnesses who claim to have seen the defendant in the night of the fire in two different places. Not even a man as fit as Mr Portgas would be able to pull that off. This trial was also an unusual one, as Captain Smoker only showed up at the last moment.”

The court was completely silent, one could have heard a pin drop. Marco held his breath.

Sengoku continued: “Not even the arresting officer seemed convinced about whether or not the defendant is guilty. Despite his not always acting according to the book, Captain Smoker is known to be a reliable cop, who wouldn’t meddle in unless he believed something was off. Therefore, after hearing all these witnesses, we find the defendant not guilty.”

Marco released his breath. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, like it wasn’t real. In the front, Ace hugged his lawyer. Over her shoulder, he peered in Marco’s direction, but it could as easily be that Marco imagined that. After all, there were enough people here to support Ace.

Ace’s friends jumped up and cheered. The public prosecutor looked displeased, like some of the witnesses.

A wave of relieve washed over Marco, realising it wasn’t a dream. Ace really had been acquitted! Smiling, he got up and left the courtroom before anyone noticed.


	10. Chapter 10

Slowly, the courtroom became empty and a guard undid Ace’s handcuffs. His brother bounced towards him and hugged him, while Sanji, Zoro and Nami followed Luffy. Ace laughed and rubbed over Luffy’s head with his knuckles. During the visiting hours in prison, physical contact was forbidden. He had missed it. After all, he was a very physical person.

“Hey guys,” Ace greeted his friends grinning. “Glad you could make it.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Zoro burst out. “Why the hell did you wait so long before telling where you fucking were–”

“Were fucking,” Ace corrected him with a wink. Zoro was taken aback for a moment, staring at him blinking, but then exploded again. Ace waited patiently until he was done ranting and then said: “I missed you too.” After giving Zoro a pat on the shoulder, he looked at Sanji. “And only the thought of you could keep me going,” he said dramatically. Actually, it was thinking of another blond, but he liked embarrassing the chef. “You’ve changed your hair style. I like it.” He watched a blush creep up Sanji’s cheeks while inadvertently he fiddled with his goatee.

Snickering, Ace noticed Smoker approach. “Smokey! Thanks for getting me out of jail,” Ace said smiling.

“Yeah, yeah. This is the last time I’m getting you out of trouble, brat.” With that, Smoker walked away again.

“How the hell did you end up with an old guy like him?” Zoro asked snorting.

“He’s not that old,” Ace defended him, though he didn’t know exactly why. “He’s thirty-four. He just looks older, ‘cause he’s a bit grumpy. And I did not ‘end up with him’.” Ace looked at his brother who had taken the judge’s seat, playing with the hammer and wasn’t listening anymore. “Like he said, we’re just fuck buddies. We met after a fire, I gave him a blow job in an alley… Well, that’s how it started.”

“You could have gone to jail! Why the hell didn’t you say something?”

Ace looked at his friend and sighed. “It’s a pride thing, Zoro. You of all people should get that.”

Zoro grumbled something, but Ace changed the subject. “Thanks for taking care of my little bro. All of you.” He bowed deep.

An officer came for him, saying he could get his possessions back. Ace turned to his friends. “Robin, my lawyer, suggested we can all go drink something to celebrate. Her husband is coming here with a van, so wait outside the courtroom for me, okay?”

After that, he followed the officer. As soon as he was outside the courtroom, he ripped off his tie and opened his shirt, sighing in relief. He didn’t understand how Sanji could always wear suits, these kind of shirts were even more confiding than a T-shirt or something.

On his way through the hall, he saw some of his colleagues, to whom he gestured he would talk to them later. He didn’t have many possessions on him when he was arrested, just his sports bag and his phone. For a moment, he expected to get his lighter back as well, but then he remembered how he lost it. Sighing disappointed, he turned on his phone. Miraculously, the device still had power. He had a few missed calls, mostly from persons who didn’t know he had been arrested at the time they tried to contact him. Dismissing the calls, he turned over to text messages. Same as for the calls, he had been texted by people before they found out he was in jail. He saw one of Marco, of which he recognised the date as the day he would meet Marco in the sports bar. A guilty feeling made his stomach twist. Dreading what it would read, he opened the text message: ‘ _You could have called_ ’, it read accusingly.

Biting his lip, he thought about what he would do. He should explain it to Marco. Maybe call him to apologise?

Deciding first to see if he had other important messages, he scrolled through the others. Most were just asking him where he was or how he was doing. His eye fell on the last one. Strange enough it was another one from Marco, sent only a few minutes ago. Curiously, he opened the text. It only read one word. ‘ _Congratulations_ ’.

Blankly, he started at the screen, swallowing hard. Marco knew? Why else would he congratulate him, if not for his won case? But… How?

He wanted to slap himself in the head. Of course! His virtual self had stopped texting Marco right at the moment where the real him went to jail. That had to be a coincidence. Though Marco didn’t necessarily knew that Ace knew he was texting Marco, right? Man, things got complicated.

Deciding to deal with it later – he really could use some alcohol right now – he thanked the officer and started to walk back to his friends. On his way there, he bumped into Smoker again. “That was a close call, you saving my ass,” Ace said smirking. “If you’d come a little later, then you had to visit me in prison.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t live to get you out of trouble, brat. I have work, you know,” Smoker grouched.

“So, you were on an undercover mission?” Ace asked. “My lawyer has tried to reach you numerous times.”

“I only got her messages a few hours ago, after I round up a gang of drugs dealers. You’ve been very lucky, brat.”

“I know. Thanks again.” He bowed.

Smoker snorted. “Well, I suppose I have to thank you as well. After all, you did keep to your end of the deal. So it was the least I could do. That, and,” he sighed, “I checked out that arson inspector for you.”

“Really? What did you find?” Excitedly Ace bounced up and down.

“Like I said, if you want to know something, ask him yourself. All I tell you is, he’s a good guy. So, if that’s what you want, go for it.”

Ace fell silent for a moment, before he nodded and a smile crept up his face. “Thanks, Smokey! You’re the best.” Without thinking, he pressed a kiss on his cheek.

Marco exited the men’s room in the courthouse. From the suspense about Ace’s case he had failed to notice his full bladder and only after the judgement had been made he had realised nature called. He intended to go home right away, but stopped dead in his tracks. Right before him he saw Ace standing, talking to the police officer who had gotten him acquitted. Ace smiled happily, before leaning forward and kissing Smoker’s cheek.

Marco smiled wearily. That hardly looked like the relationship as ‘fuck buddies’ as they claimed. Sighing, he turned around and made his way out of the court.

Ace was just taking leave from Smoker when he saw a flash of blond disappear in the crowd. He quickly said goodbye and ran after Marco. He didn’t see him anymore, but he could still find him!

Before he could cross the hall halfway, however, he was intercepted by the firefighters. They slapped his shoulder and congratulated him. He shook hands, but hardly listened to his colleagues, his eyes still searching for the blond head of hair.

Only when the station manager asked him a question what he was up to now, he forced himself to pay attention. “For now I’m gonna have a drink with my friends.”

“Well, it’s great to have you back. Nobody of us thought you did it, by the way. Least of all Fenwick, as it turns out.” Laughing heartily, his boss slapped his shoulder and the others joined in. Ace grinned as well, but he noticed that Johnson’s scowl turned darker.

“Well, I can’t keep my friends waiting too long,” he said apologising, in an attempt to make an escape.

“Of course. We’ll see you at the station on Monday.”

Thanking them for their support, Ace took leave and made his way out of the courthouse, keeping an eye out for Marco. Unfortunately, he didn’t see him anywhere.

Outside, he joined his friends again. Robin’s husband Franky had not yet arrived.

“By the way, where is that hot arson inspector?” Ace asked in an attempt to inconspicuously obtain information, while scanning the crowd outside.

Zoro rolled his eyes. “He’s gone home already. Besides, didn’t you just got your ass saved by your lover?”

“Fuck buddy.” Ace pouted. “And he was making a pass at me. How can I ignore that?”

“So you like him?” Sanji asked. It almost sounded hopeful.

Marco was pretty much the only thing on his mind lately, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit to that. So he just snickered and said: “What can I say? He’s blond and has a really nice ass. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like yours anymore,” he added with a wink. Just to annoy Sanji.

They kept chatting until a van with the text ‘Franky’s Contracting’ on it stopped in front of them with shrieking brakes. Ace met Usopp, Sanji’s former roommate who studied architecture and was now apparently working for Robin’s husband, who was a contractor. Said husband was an enormous guy with a blue quiff, who thought a lot of things were ‘SUPERR’. Ace was enjoying himself already. Even if Marco wasn’t there, he was in the company of some very interesting people.

They decided first to go eat, which made both Ace and Luffy very happy and they all got in the van. He was just listening to a story told by Usopp – who was either very brave or very much lying, though the story was entertaining anyway – when suddenly Franky braked really hard. His driving style was never boring, according to Usopp. Zoro cast an annoyed look at the seatbelt of Sanji, who was sitting right across him and had not fallen in his lap during the braking. Ace winked at Zoro. Yes, those two would be perfect for each other. It was too bad Sanji still seemed to be convinced he was straight.

They got out of the van and on their way to the pizzeria, they met with a former colleague of Sanji, an extremely tall and thin man with the biggest afro Ace had ever seen. The man was called Brook. He had just eaten, but he would like to meet with them for drinks.

Ace put away two extra large pizzas, while his brother worked on his third one. It wasn’t like the prison food had been bad, but apparently, food tasted better when you had your freedom. Ace managed to convince Sanji to make him dinner sometime. That food should be way better than what he got in prison.

* * *

After dinner, they got back into the van to find a bar. Ace started to get to know the persons in his company better, and found out they were all very interesting, and funny, in their own way. He could see why his brother had chosen these people to be his friends.

They were by far the loudest group in the bar. His friends caught Ace up with everything that happened. Zoro finally filled him in on details of Vivi’s wedding, to which he had taken Sanji to play his boyfriend. Ace almost rolled over the floor laughing. Then someone bumped into him and he looked around to see who, when he suddenly noticed a familiar blond head of hair sitting at the bar. His heartbeat sped up. What should he do?

Pretending he was still listening, he got out his phone and without anyone noticing, he wrote: ‘ _Turn around_ ’. His heart racing a million miles a minute, he pressed ‘send’. At least now everything would be out in the open. He knew that Marco knew who he was and Marco knew that he knew who Marco was.

The waiting was agonising. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sanji noticing the man too, so he pretended he followed his gaze.

Marco had turned around. Their eyes met, making it impossible for Ace to look away. Marco raised his beer bottle towards him, silently congratulating him again. After that, he turned back. Ace sat still for a moment, trying to gather his courage. He couldn’t let Marco slip though his fingers, not again. He took a draught from his beer, since being drunk helped in talking to Marco, as their brief phone conversation had proved. Taking another deep breath, he got up and made his way over to the bar.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked Marco. Marco had changed his clothes, wearing now jeans and his purple jacket.

The other man shook his head without looking up, but that wasn’t good enough for Ace. This time they would really have a conversation, dammit! So he took a seat, leaning with his elbows on the bar, while Marco sipped his beer in silence.

“You lied under oath.”

That made Marco look up. “I did?”

Ace suppressed the urge to do a little victory dance now he had finally gotten Marco to talk to him. He kept a straight face and continued: “Yes, you said we never talked before. But we did. On the phone.”

“I didn’t know it was you.”

“Maybe not at the time, but you did find out at some point. Why else would you congratulate me?” Ace pressed.

Finally, Marco looked at him, but still kept silent. Ace ordered another beer to get rid of his dry mouth. “So when did you find out?”

“The time the texts stopped and when you went to jail were awfully coincidental. That, and Thatch mentioned you were a boxer,” Marco said musing.

Ace felt his cheeks heat up when he realised that the brothers had talked about him.

“Which reminds me.” Marco rummaged about in his pocket for something, before taking out a small, silver coloured device. He placed it on the bar and slid it towards Ace.

Pleasantly surprised, Ace recognised it. “My lighter! How did you get it?”

“I found it on the floor, after you almost fell down the stairs at the fire station.”

Ace flushed a little at that blunt statement, but flicked the lighter open and produced a small flame. “Well, thank you for saving it for me.” He decided not to comment on the fact that Marco carried the device around. After all, he couldn’t have known he would meet Ace in this bar.

“So when did you know who you were texting?”

The question caught him a little off guard, causing the small flame to die out. He took a draught of the much welcomed beer that was placed before him, before admitting embarrassed: “I knew the whole time. It wasn’t a coincidence I called you.”

Marco stared into space musing, tapping his fingers on the bar. “So, why didn’t you say anything?”

Ace sighed. “I don’t know… I wanted to talk to you, or rather that you talked to _me_. But I didn’t know what to say… And I didn’t know if you liked me, the real me. But,” he interrupted himself grinning, “you obviously do.”

He hoped he didn’t imagine the blush that crept up Marco’s cheeks. “Yeah, I hoped you didn’t hear that,” Marco muttered.

“Well, I did. You think I’m hot, don’t deny it,” Ace said teasing.

Marco took a sip from his beverage, his eyebrow twitching. “I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

“The only one to declare it under oath.”

Marco kept silent.

Ace got a little nervous. The beer helped him talk to Marco like he usually talked to people, but he needed to make sure this wouldn’t be the last time. Taking a deep breath he asked: “You gonna ask me out then?”

Marco turned towards him, meeting his stare. “I wasn’t planning on it,” he answered.

Ace studied Marco’s face, but he couldn’t see if he was serous or not. He just looked bored, like usual. Well, after all this time he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “It seems like I have to change your mind, then.”

Before Marco could react, Ace leaned in, his lips hovering over Marco’s. Ace’s hand ran up his leg. Marco swallowed. It was so tempting just to lean forward a little… Now more then ever he was glad he had this much willpower. Things had been safe when he hadn’t spoken to Ace. And now it turned out Ace was also interested in him? He couldn’t have that.

Ace’s face moved until his lips were less than an inch away from Marco’s ear. “Ready to reconsider?” he whispered breathily.

A shudder went down his spine. It took every last ounce of his willpower not to throw Ave onto the bar top and kiss him right there and then. This was a very different side of Ace than he had seen before. This boy, no, man was not the playful rascal with the boyish grin. This Ace was sexy, and very seductive. He didn’t know which side he liked better.

Ace pulled back and smiled at him with the cheeky grin Marco knew and loved. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

_Wait, what?_ Confused, Marco looked at Ace, who nodded in direction of his leg. Ace’s hand was still lying there, only now covered with Marco’s own. He had placed it there to remove the hand of Ace. Apparently, things hadn’t gone according to plan.

He moved Ace’s hand to place it on the bar or something, but halfway through, their eyes met. He froze. God, he had missed it looking upon Ace from far way, and now he was sitting this close, holding his hand!

Ace’s mouth curved into a smile. “Why don’t you meet my friends,” he said in a soft tone. He grabbed Marco’s hand firmer and dragged him with him, before Marco had a chance to protest. Marco could barely grab his beer.

Ace introduced Marco to his friends, sitting down and tapping on the empty chair next to him invitingly. Marco sat down, observing the group. Some faces he recognised, like those of the head chef of the burned down restaurant and Ace’s lawyer. He hoped the first would be discrete enough not to mention the little incident, namely Marco getting shitfaced over Ace. But Sanji seemed to be occupied.

He took his time to study the other people around the table. It was a very varied group, that was for sure, both in character and age. Robin, her husband Franky and a thin man named Brook seemed to be the older ones of the group, while Ace’s brother Luffy and a young man called Usopp were the youngest. Zoro, the green haired man across the table looked familiar, and Marco realised he had almost hired this man to investigate Ace’s case.

Suddenly, he felt someone pulling his sleeve. Turning around, he looked in the young face of Luffy, who observed him curiously. “Do you like meat?” he asked.

Marco looked at him confused, not entirely sure if this was a serious question, but nothing on Luffy’s face indicated that he was making a joke. “Sure,” Marco said slowly.

Luffy’s face broke into a grin. “I like you,” he declared laughing.

Ace turned around and smiled at Marco. He was glad Luffy had approved of Marco.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter, jokes and talking. Fortunately for Marco, everyone was polite enough not to mention his slip of the tongue in the courtroom.

Ace had already quite a lot to drink when he suddenly decided he didn’t like his chair anymore and crawled onto Marco’s lap. The latter was just having a conversation with Robin and Nami, Luffy’s girlfriend, and was a bit surprised, but could hardly say that he minded. Absentmindedly, he started to caress Ace’s leg, while continuing his conversation. When he realised what he was doing, he stopped, but Ace didn’t allow that and placed Marco’s hand back on his leg.

“Zoro! Could you get me another beer?” Ace asked Zoro, who was already on his way to the bar. His friend nodded.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nami said a little worried.

Ace pouted. “Come on, I just got out of jail! Let me have a little fun.”

She shrugged. “Fine. Whatever.”

His beer was brought, together with a plate of chicken wings, which he attacked like he was famished, slapping away the hand of his brother, who was currently putting way his own plate. He did offer Marco some, who refused politely.

Marco was just returning to his conversation with the women, when he heard a muffled bang. Ace had landed face first in the plate of chicken wings that was standing before him. A loud snoring sound arose.

Nami rubbed her temples. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

Marco carefully lifted Ace’s head and wiped his face clean with a napkin, while Nami explained: “Ace has narcolepsy. When he drinks too much alcohol, eats too much or over-exhausts himself, he spontaneously falls asleep. Like this.”

Ace’s head lulled against Marco’s shoulder and Marco looked at him tenderly. He loved to watch Ace sleep. Marco almost didn’t notice the others making plans to leave, since the guest of honour was asleep.

“Oh Marco, could you be a dear and bring Ace home?” Nami asked in a peremptory tone that reminded him a little of Nojiko.

“And you better bring him home safe,” Zoro added in a threatening tone.

“Come on, Marimo. In the worst case scenario, I know where he lives.” Sanji nodded to Marco and then led Zoro out of the bar.

Marco stayed behind staggered. Everyone had already left, leaving him behind with a sleeping Ace in his lap. And he had no idea where Ace lived!

“Yohoho! You need some help?” Brook, the man with the afro hadn’t left with the rest, having arrived later by himself.

“Please,” Marco said sighing. He was able to lift Ace, but he did need some help getting him in his car. Brook opened the door of the passenger side and Marco put the sleeping man on the seat. He struggled a bit to fasten the seatbelt. When Ace was safely constricted, Marco straightened.

“Thank you, Brook. You wouldn’t happen to know where he lives, would you?”

Brook laughed. “Yohoho~! No, I only met him today. Good luck with that.”

“Would you like a lift?”

“No, thank you. I prefer to walk. Though I don’t have to lose more weight, as I already am hardly more than skin and bones! Yohoho!”

Marco watched the curious man walk away, before sighing and getting behind the wheel. He looked at Ace, who was still snoring lightly. He couldn’t do much else then wait until the other man woke up. He used the time to think about everything that happened today. Ace had been acquitted, declared innocent. He had been saved by his boyfriend, or who Marco thought was his boyfriend. But just now Ace had definitely been flirting with _him_. A fluttering feeling arose in his stomach when he remembered sitting at the bar with Ace, his lips so close to his…

At that moment, Ace began to stir and opened his eyes sleepily. When he realised he wasn’t in the bar anymore, he cocked his head confused. “Are you kidnapping me?”

Marco smiled slightly. “Your friend Nami insisted I brought you home.”

“You poor thing,” Ace laughed. “Don’t worry, no one says no to her.” He looked out of the window. “So why are we still in the car park?”

“I don’t know where you live.”

Ace laughed again. “For a kidnapper, you’re not much of a stalker.” Then he got serious again. “But before we go, you still haven’t given your answer yet.”

Marco sighed. “I don’t think your boyfriend would like it if I asked you out.”

“Boyfriend?” Ace looked at him confused. “Wait, you mean Smoker? God, no. Just… No! It’s like he said. Sex, nothing more.” He grabbed Marco’s hand. “I’m single. Really.” He leaned back in the seat. “That only leaves the question of what you want. You say you think I’m hot, but is that all there is? Because if that’s the case, we can take care of that right now.”

Two dark eyes looked at him piercing, causing him to swallow. He knew what Ace was implying. Sex, right here in his car. The offer was tempting. He would get what he want, or at least part of it. Nothing complicated and after they could pretend it never happened and move on with their lives.

But he knew that it wouldn’t be enough. After he would only want Ace more. And a selfish part of him wanted to be more to Ace than that police officer apparently was.

Like he read his mind, Ace said: “Or we could go on that date.” He almost sounded… hopeful?

Swallowing again, because nothing of this was going according to plan, he gave in. He nodded. “I’d like that.”

Ace smiled happily and started to give him directions to his house, which was actually not that far from his own place. Marco pulled up on the driveway. Ace undid his seatbelt and got ready to open the door, when he suddenly turned back. “I suppose Luffy went home with Nami?”

“I think so.”

Ace nodded and chewed on his lip. Finally, he took a deep breath and asked: “You wanna come in? I really don’t like it to be alone and it’s the first night I’m home again…” He looked at the floor. He didn’t want to sound like a child, but he just really didn’t like to be alone.

But Marco smiled. “Sure.” He followed an excited Ace to the door.

The house was a complete mess, but Ace supposed that was to be expected if he left Luffy alone for weeks. Not that it would be much cleaner if Ace hadn’t been gone.

He led Marco up the stairs to his room. At the door, he hesitated for a second. “Just… Please don’t mind the mess,” he mumbled.

Marco smiled. “I grew up with fourteen siblings. Believe me, I’m used to shambles.”

Ace grinned and opened the door. His room was just like he left it. With a happy groan, he let himself fall on the bed. Marco took a seat on the edge, until Ace pulled him next to him.

“Thank you,” he mumbled sleepily to Marco.

“For what?” Marco whispered. Ace curled up against him and he couldn’t help but stroke his hair. No, things were definitely not going according to plan, but he’d be damned if he complained. He would have never thought he would be lying in bed with the object of his desire.

“You were worried about me. You did everything you could to help me,” Ace murmured. “And your ass looks great in those jeans…” His words died away and were replaced by soft snoring.

Marco smiled. He watched Ace sleep for a while, before hoisting himself up. He should probably leave.

In the hallway, he bumped into Luffy. “Oh, hello,” he said confused. “Ace said nobody was home…”

Luffy cocked his head. “Ace doesn’t like to be alone, so I’m here. Are you here for him as well?”

“Y-yes. I was just leaving, though. He’s sleeping.”

“Do you like him?”

A smile tugged on the corners of his mouth at the sudden question. “Yes, I do,” he admitted.

“Ace likes you too.”

Marco was surprised, to say the least. Luffy had seemed only interested in food, preferably meat. Now he showed some sharp insight.

“My brother has never had a boyfriend. Please don’t hurt him.”

He couldn’t do anything but nod. “I wouldn’t dare to.” Then Marco smiled again. “You’re a good brother.”

Luffy grinned broadly. “Does that mean I get meat?”

* * *

Sleepily, he opened his eyes. It took him a second to realise he was lying in his own bed. Stretching himself, he smiled. Yesterday had been a good day. Not only had he been acquitted from the arson charge, he finally had gotten Marco to ask him out.

But where was Marco? Pouting, he concluded that Marco must have left after he had fallen asleep. A little disappointed, he got up and started to undress. It probably hadn’t been a good idea to go to sleep in his suit. Oh well, he’d just have to bring it to the drycleaner or something.

He strolled over to the bathroom. For the first time in weeks, he could shower by himself without anyone staring at him, so he decided to enjoy it to the fullest. And when thoughts about Marco entered his head, that resolution became quite literally. Weeks of pent-up sexual frustration were finally relieved.

Sighing contently, he turned off the shower and started to dry off. Stark naked, he walked to his room – it was a good thing Nami wasn’t here – and pulled on a clean pair of pants. After that, he made his way downstairs. Surprised, he found his brother sitting at the kitchen table, putting away his breakfast. “Luffy! I thought you went home with Nami.”

Luffy shrugged. “You don’t like to be alone. So I came here.”

“Thanks.” Ace caressed his brother’s head. “Did you see Marco leave?”

“Yes.” He started to grin. “He likes you.”

A blush crept up his cheeks, making him feel like a schoolgirl. “Shut up.” After this mature conversation, he grabbed some breakfast.

All day, he was debating whether or not to call Marco. When his phone started to ring, he dove on the device like a cat on its prey. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Marco calling, but Izo’s name was shown on the display. He answered, trying not to sound too disappointed. “Hello?”

“Ace! I heard you’ve been cleared of all charges!”

He smiled and sat down on the couch. “You’ve been talking to Marco?”

“Of course. I instructed him to inform me of every little detail.”

Ace chuckled. He doubted Marco had told everything. Izo wouldn’t shut up if he knew they would go out.

“You got out of jail right on time, by the way,” Izo continued. “You know the drawings I made of you? Well, the exhibition is in two weeks and Thatch, the idiot, has spilled coffee on my best piece! So I need you to stop by tonight so I can make a new one.”

“Oh.” Ace couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. He had hoped to do something fun, after all, he had just spend weeks being locked up. And it wasn’t that selfish to want to go celebrate with his friends, right?

But Izo probably was nervous for his exhibition. Ace wondered if Thatch was still alive. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there.”

“Great, see you at eight!” With that, Izo hung up the phone.

* * *

A little past eight, Ace rang the doorbell at Izo’s place. He hadn’t even bothered putting on more than his pants, he had to take it off again anyway.

Izo opened the door. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Sure. So which drawing was it anyway?” he asked curiously. While walking, he already started to open his pants.

“You might want to wait with that,” Izo said smiling, his hand placed on the doorknob of the door to the living room.

“Why?” Ace asked, getting ready to take off his pants entirely.

His answer came soon enough. Izo threw open the door, and he was met with a room full of people. On the ceiling there was a banner, saying, ‘ _Welcome back, Ace’_ , ironically decorated with flames.

Hastily, Ace zipped up his pants again. Really, Marco should be the first to see his family jewels – after Izo then.

Thatch walked up to them laughing. “You really were surprised, weren’t you?”

“Did you actually thought we would let an excuse to party pass?” Izo piped in, chuckling.

Ace still couldn’t believe all this. He recognised the brothers that had been at the poker night, but there were more than fourteen people here.

“They’re all here for you,” Thatch said smiling. “Well, and for the booze, but you catch the drift.”

Finally, Ace woke from his trance and burst into laughter. “Wow, thanks, guys. A few seconds later and you would have caught me with my pants around my ankles.”

Thatch looked from Ace to Izo confused. The latter started to snicker. “Oh, I lured him here by telling him I needed to make a new drawing of him. Apparently, it is very believable that you are an idiot.”

Ace laughed at Thatch’s pouting, before entering the room. He was met with a lot of people happy to see him. He shook hands, was pulled in hugs and slapped on the back. He lost track of who were brothers and who weren’t, but it didn’t really matter. He soon learned that the people who didn’t belong to the ‘family’ were orphans from other orphanages Whitebeard owned.

While he was being congratulated by everyone, he looked for Marco in the crowd. He found him, sitting in the windowsill holding a beer. With his eyes, he followed Ace. Ace grinned at him. He smiled back.

Marco’s family really knew how to party. There was booze, food, laughter and loud – and off-key – singing of sailor songs. Ace got along with everybody very well. They had made it into a drinking game for Ace to guess who were the brothers. Some time and several beers later, he finally knew all fourteen. The ones he met last time were easy – Marco, Izo, Thatch, Vista, Jozu, Rakuyo, Namur and Curiel – and now he got to know the others: Blamenco, Blenheim, Kingdew, Haruta, Atmos, Jiru – nicknamed Speed Jiru – and Fossa.

Around one in the morning, he decided it would be a good idea to give his drunken brain some air, so he strolled into the garden. The cold air did him good.

He turned around when he heard footsteps approach. “Hi, guys.”

Thatch grinned at him. “Y’having fun?”

“I do. Thank you for doing this for me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Izo said. “The guys all wanted to meet you. And like I said, we never let a chance to party go by.”

Ace laughed, but the smile disappeared when he saw the serious faces of the other two. He couldn’t remember either of them ever looking like this, especially Thatch. “Everything alright?”

“We need to talk.”

“We do?”

Izo exchanged a look with Thatch. “Tell us again how you got acquitted. It was because at the last moment, you did have an alibi, didn’t you?”

Ace fiddled with his glass awkwardly. He wasn’t sure why the guys were interrogating him, and he certainly wasn’t comfortable discussing Smoker with them. “Yeah, kinda. I just promised the guy I wouldn’t say anything about him.”

“What’s your relationship with him?”

Ace stared at the ground. “Occasionally, we have sex. That’s all.”

Izo and Thatch looked at each other again. “We hope those aren’t your plans with Marco.”

Surprised, Ace looked up. That was what all this was about? He almost laughed at how adorable that was. They were only trying to protect their brother.

“No, I like him. We’re going on a date,” he said smiling.

“Good. You better be serious about him,” Thatch said a little threateningly.

“Don’t forget to tell him to have me home by eleven.”

All three turned around. Marco stood behind them, holding a beer. He didn’t look mad, rather amused.

Ace laughed. Marco was right, Thatch and Izo’s behaviour resembled that of parents of a teenage girl who would go on her first date.

The other brothers were less amused. “We were only trying…” Izo started to protest, but Marco lifted up his hand to stop him.

“I know. Why don’t you go inside again? The beer seems to be running low.”

Without further argument, both Thatch and Izo made their way back inside. Marco walked up to Ace and stood next to him. “Sorry about that. I hope they didn’t scare you off.”

Ace laughed. “Nah, it was rather adorable. I just didn’t think I would meet you parents this soon.”

Marco smiled, brushing some hair out of Ace’s face. “Let’s see how our date goes, before you meet my _real_ Pops.” Ace’s hand caressed the shirt covering Marco’s chest, biting his lips when he felt the well-defined abs. Marco grabbed Ace’s chin and brought their faces close together. He blamed the alcohol for his own forwardness.

Their lips hadn’t even touched, when Ace’s body suddenly went limp, falling flat against Marco. The raven haired head rolled against his shoulder and a soft snoring arose.


	11. Chapter 11

Ace woke up with a pounding headache. He soon realised he wasn’t in his own bed, but lying on a strange couch. Why again?

Right, Marco’s brothers threw a welcome back party for him, where he had drunk a little too much. Wait… Marco! Outside, Marco had made an attempt to kiss him. Digging deep into his memory, he tried to recall what it had been like, until the truth hit him like a pile of bricks. He had fallen asleep!

Cursing his narcolepsy, Ace slammed his palm against his forehead, causing the throbbing feeling to increase. Why was he such an idiot? It had been perfect, they were alone outside, Marco had grabbed his chin and then… Nothing. God, he hated himself right now.

“Morning, sunshine.”

Brusquely, he tore himself out of his self-pity and looked up. He was still at Izo’s place. Someone had placed him on the couch after he had fallen asleep – Marco, no doubt.

Finally, the smell of freshly baked waffles hit him, and his stomach growled. Izo, who was standing near the table holding a plate, chuckled. “Look’s like I’m just in time.”

Ace scrambled to his feet, trying not to drool. He almost ran over to the table, but Izo smacked his hand with a spatula before he could take a bite.

“Where are your manners? Wait until everyone is here.”

“Everyone?” Ace asked confused.

His question was soon answered when Thatch walked into the room, his hair already in a perfect pompadour style. “Good morning.”

“Is Marco here as well?” Ace asked eagerly, looking around and not even bothering to return the greeting.

Izo and Thatch both chuckled. “I’m gonna forgive you for ignoring me on the account of that you’re smitten with my brother,” the latter laughed.

A flush stained his cheeks. “I’m not smitten,” he muttered.

Izo grinned. “Of course not. But Marco went home last night. Some people have to work, you know,” he added with a wink.

“I start again on Monday!”

Both brothers laughed again and sat down at the table. Ace took that as a signal and started to wolf down the waffles.

Izo shook his head. “I can’t believe Marco is willing to put up with that eating style of yours.”

“It’s only because your food’s so good,” Ace answered with his mouth full. It wasn’t true per se, but a little flattering never hurt anyone, right?

Izo placed a hand against his cheek. “Stop that, you’re making me blush.”

Thatch laughed heartily and started eating as well, before Ace could consume everything. He was in luck though, because suddenly Ace’s phone started to vibrate.

After Ace had managed to pull the device out of his pocket, he stared at the screen. He swallowed. “It’s Marco…”

“Oh my God, oh my God!” Izo hopped up and down on his chair and clapped his hands like an over excited teenage girl. “Pick up then!”

Ace stared a little surprised at him, but after taking a deep breath, he pressed the answer button. “Hello?” He ignored the disapproving look Izo gave him for greeting so casually.

“Good morning.”

Ace could practically feel Marco’s voice vibrating through him and, suddenly, he was the one feeling like a school girl.

“Put it on speakerphone,” Izo encouraged him, but Ace ignored him.

“I was wondering if you survived your morning with Izo,” Marco continued on the other end of the line.

“Actually, I’m still there. Izo made waffles.” He tried not to sound too excited, failing miserably.

Marco chuckled. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah…” Ace bit his lip. “Listen, Marco, I’m sorry about last night…”

Thatch and Izo both leaned in, looking way too interested. Ace shot them an annoyed look and turned around so he didn’t have to look at them anymore.

“You have nothing to apologise for.”

Ace smiled. He was still an idiot of course, but at least Marco wasn’t mad at him.

“I’ll let you get back to your breakfast then,” Marco continued.

“Wait! Marco?”

Marco hummed to indicate he was still there.

Ace bit his lip. “Are you free tonight?”

On the other end of the line, Marco chuckled, and shivers went down Ace’s spine. Really, if Marco’s laughter could already do that to him, imagine what it would be like when he was lying beneath Marco while he thrust into Ace…

Ace shook his head to rid his head of these thoughts. Now was not the good time, not with the two brothers staring at him, and his lover-to-be on the other end of the line.

“You lose no time over it, eh?”

“I just don’t want to run the risk of one of us ending up in jail coming in between again,” Ace shrugged.

“What’s he saying?” Izo whispered to Ace, but Ace waved him away annoyed.

He heard some rustling about with some papers, before Marco answered: “Yes, I’m available tonight.”

“Well, I’m glad you can fit me in somewhere,” Ace joked and had to bite his tongue not to add: ‘But I’m sure you fit into _me_.’ He would save the dirty talk for a later time. He glanced over his shoulder, only to see that both brothers were sitting even closer than before. “Will you stop staring at me?” he shrieked a little louder than he had intended.

Marco chuckled again. “How about you call me back later to go over the details? In private.”

“Sure,” Ace said smiling. “You probably must get back to work.”

“I’ll talk to you later then. Give my regards to my brothers.”

Ace said goodbye and hung up, smiling. He ignored the curious looks the brothers gave him – actually, Izo looked like he was about to explode from curiosity – and started eating the now cold waffles. “Can you pass the syrup?” he asked Izo innocently.

Izo’s eye twitched. “Well?!”

“Well what?”

Izo looked like he was about to strangle him, while Thatch burst into laughter.

Ace decided that was enough teasing. He couldn’t hold it in any longer anyway, he felt way to giddy. “We’re going on a date tonight,” he said grinning broadly.

Izo let out an almost deafening squeal, and Thatch gave him a congratulatory punch to the shoulder, adding: “Well done. You completed three out of the four tasks to become a Whitebeard Pirate.”

“Three?” Ace remembered the first two, being meeting and partying with all the brothers, which he had passed with flying colours if he said so himself.

“Seducing Marco, of course,” Thatch continued with a grin. “Not that that was a hard task, as he thinks you’re all sorts of cute– Ouch! Dammit Izo, he already knows!”

Izo chuckled while his brother rubbed his painful shin. “Force of habit. But now that we landed on the subject, we never got to finish our ‘talk’ last night.”

Ace swallowed thickly. “We haven’t?” The way Izo pronounced the word ‘talk’ didn’t augur well. And he had hoped he could just finish his waffles in peace. Unfortunately, Thatch also wore his stern face, which meant things were really serious.

Izo dabbed up some crumbs from his plate and licked them off his finger, before saying: “There are a few things you should know, before we let you date our brother.”

“More rules?” Ace asked, getting a little depressed. He just wanted to date Marco, dammit!

“Guidelines is more like it. Look Ace, we like you and we hope things will work out for the two of you, but we also don’t want to see our brother hurt, understand?” Thatch said. “’Cause here’s the thing: though Marco may seem like a loner, he’s not. The thing he wants most in life is a mate, a partner.”

“So if you think of this as just an opportunity for a one-night stand, we cannot allow you to go,” Izo continued. He leaned with his head on his hand and looked at Ace expectantly.

He couldn’t help but smile. “You will make good concerned parents one day. But don’t worry, I really like Marco. Really.”

Izo gave him a piercing look, but then nodded. “Alright then. We trust you.”

Ace grinned again and licked the last syrup off his fork.

“Oh, while we’re at it, don’t ask about his age,” Thatch warned him. “It’s a sensitive subject.”

“How old is he anyway?” Ace asked, only to be petted on the head.

“He’ll tell you when he’s ready.”

* * *

Marco stared at his phone. What had he done? He had let this whole thing go too far. But it had gone beyond his control after Thatch found out about his crush and from there it had just escalated. And now he had a date with the object of his desire.

Okay, if he put it like that it could hardly be called a problem.

But he couldn’t tell Ace about their past – Ace obviously didn’t remember. So Marco just had to make sure he messed up the date. Not so much that Ace would hate him, that was the part he was trying to avoid, but just so that there wouldn’t be a second one. And he just had to hope Izo and Thatch would mind their own business for once.

Who was he kidding?

* * *

“And you’re sure he’ll like this?”

Ace looked again uncertain to the tight pants and the wide silk shirt with floral print. The pants he could understand, it showed off his ass and his package nicely. But the shirt?

“Sit still,” Izo said and continued doing something with his hair. “Of course I do.”

“That you like it or he does?” Ace mumbled, but didn’t dare to say it out loud.

That morning, they had continued talking for a while, the brothers giving Ace a growing list with do’s and don’ts in dating Marco. Eventually, Izo had asked if he was nervous and after he had answered, “Now I am,” Izo had offered to come by early in the evening to help him get dressed.

After Ace got home, he had immediately called Marco. It still felt a little weird, but he liked it that he finally could get to talk to Marco whenever he wanted. They agreed to keep it simple this time: Marco would pick him up around seven, and they would go to a restaurant.

“All done.” Izo took a step back to admire his work. “And with time to spare.”

Ace got up to look at himself in the mirror, grabbing another slice of pizza in the process. Izo snorted disapprovingly. “I can’t believe you have a body of a young god when you eat like _that_. And wasn’t Marco going to take you out to dinner?”

“Yeah, but he’s paying, and I don’t want to eat him poor on our first date,” Ace answered with his mouth full. “And Luffy’s way worse and he’s all skinny.”

His brother looked up at the hearing of his name. “Can’t I come with you?” he asked. “I wanna eat in a restaurant.”

“I already told you, this is a date. Make Nami take you.”

Izo shook his head. “And this after eating three pizzas. Your family consists of people with a black hole for a stomach.”

Ace shrugged and looked at himself in the mirror. “Are you _sure_ this is what he likes?”

Izo had pulled his hair tightly backwards with some kind of hair gel. Not the way he would wear it himself, but if Marco liked it…

The doorbell rang, and Ace jumped. “He’s here!”

“I’ll leave via the back. No need for Marco to know I was here.” Izo walked up to Ace and fixed the blouse he had been fiddling with. “You, relax. You look fabulous.”

Ace swallowed and nodded, before walking to the door. He waited a moment before opening it, until his not so subtle brother had yelled: “Bye Izo!” Then Ace took a deep breath and opened the door.

Marco looked gorgeous. He was wearing a lavender shirt, sleeves casually rolled up and the top button open, giving a peek at his chest. The outfit was completed with jeans that hugged all the right places.

Ace realised he was staring, or rather, they were observing each other. He tried to read something off Marco’s face, but his expression was emotionless as always.

“You like it?” he asked a little insecure.

Marco eyed him one more time up and down. “It’s… different,” he answered politically correct.

That said enough for Ace. “Give me two minutes!” He turned around and sprinted up the stairs as fast as his tight pants allowed it. Luffy followed him with his gaze, chewing on potato chips.

In his room, Ace threw off the floral blouse. He left on his pants, doubting Marco had any objections to those. They would only prove to be a problem if this night ended in desperate hands trying to peel the pants off him, but, somehow, he liked that prospect.

In the bathroom, he put his head under the tab and washed the hair gel out of his hair as much as possible. After that, he dried his hair before returning to his room to look for a shirt, as that would probably be appreciated in the restaurant. He pulled a black t-shirt over his head and threw on a waistcoat, leaving it unbuttoned, before storming back down. Not slowing down, he yelled goodbye to his brother and not to wait up, slamming the door behind him. Panting slightly, he walked a little more casual over to Marco, who was leaning against his car.

“Sorry about that.” He noticed Marco checking him out again, this time the approval could be read off his face. He would get Izo for this.

Marco opened the passenger door for him. “Or do you need to change again?” he asked with a slight chuckle.

Ace felt his cheeks heating up. “I got some bad fashion advice.”

“Yes, it’s hard to say no to Izo.” When Ace looked up in surprise, Marco continued: “The floral pattern was a dead give-away that this was my brother’s handy work. The only thing more obvious was if he had made you wear a dress. Believe me, he could pull it off. Don’t ask,” he said sharply when he saw Ace’s eyes lit up.

With a big grin on his face, Ace stepped into the car. He was having fun already.

* * *

In the car, they chitchatted about stuff going on at work. Ace didn’t really care, he much rather learned more about Marco, but they had all night, and this was just a beginning. Marco parked the car near the restaurant. Ace had left the decision to him on where they would eat.

“I assumed, as you were able to keep down Izo’s muffins, you weren’t a picky eater,” Marco said. “So I hope you like Moroccan food.”

“Sure. My ex-girlfriend has Egyptian roots, and she loves to cook Middle Eastern food,” Ace said. He stopped in his tracks. “Did I just talk about my ex on our first date?”

Marco chuckled. “It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry. But you’ll meet her soon enough, she is one of my closest friends now. And she just got married, in case you’re worried,” he added hastily. “Actually, her wedding was when I was in jail, so I couldn’t go…” What the hell was he babbling about? This wasn’t really first date conversation material. He sighed. “Now you say something depressing.” He felt like pounding his forehead against the brick wall.

Marco placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just relax.”

Ace nodded and took a deep breath. They entered the small restaurant, where soft Moroccan music played in the background. A waitress approached them.

“I have a reservation under the name of Fenwick,” Marco told her.

She nodded and led them to a small table for two. “I’ll be right back with your menus,” the girl said and disappeared.

“You’ve been here before?” Ace asked while they waited.

“Only once a few months back.”

“You often go to restaurants alone?” he asked curiously.

Marco smirked. “Who said I was alone…?”

A flare of jealousy flared up in his chest. “Oh, and who might that other person have been?” he asked a little affectedly.

Marco looked amused. “It was with one of my brothers, if it makes you feel better.”

It actually did. The waitress returned with their menus and asked what they would like to drink.

Marco ordered a mineral water and was a little surprised when Ace asked for an espresso. “Before dinner?” he asked while the waitress went to fetch their drinks.

“I don’t want to run the risk that the evening ends with my face in my food,” Ace explained. “You know I’m narcoleptic, right?”

“Yes, your friend Nami explained it to me. But doesn’t there exist some kind of medication for that?” Marco asked, opening the menu.

Ace sighed. “Yeah, all kinds. But every single one I tried had some side effect that wasn’t worth it. Usually headaches or fevers. When I was in jail, a friend of mine who studies medicine got me a trial drug, but that one worked a little too well. I couldn’t sleep at all. I stopped taking them right before the trial. It’s truly a miracle I didn’t fall asleep there.” He snickered. “But I guess that was the adrenaline or something. I think I rather fall asleep at random times than that I suffer from insomnia. But I guess you know what that’s like, right mister I-answer-a-stranger’s-call-at-three-in-the-morning?”

Marco smiled. “I guess. But I don’t need much sleep.”

Ace leaned with his head on his hand. “So, what do you usually do with your extra free time?” he asked with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

Marco raised an eyebrow at that. “I usually try to catch up on my reading.”

Fortunately for Marco, this was the time the waitress decided to return with their drinks. They both ordered their first and second course. Marco had a salad of roasted paprika and tomatoes as starter and a tajine with shrimp and courgette as main course. Ace started with small breads stuffed with minced meat and after that, he ordered a beef dish, Moroccan style.

In his head, Ace checked the list Izo and Thatch had given him about conversation subjects. Family was always a safe bet, they had said. The juicier questions, he would save for later. “So, growing up with fourteen brothers. There must have been a lot of testosterone flying around.”

Though Izo and Thatch had guaranteed him Marco loved to talk about his brothers, something changed in Marco’s face. It only lasted a second, but, in the short time Ace had known him, he had learned that these flashes of emotions said were very important. “What?” he asked.

Marco raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised he got caught. He drummed with his fingers on the table. “I guess I can tell you. Perhaps you already know.”

“You don’t have to trust me with any family secrets or something,” Ace quickly said.

Marco smiled softly. “It’s not like that. It’s just… There weren’t always fifteen boys.”

Ace cocked his head a little. “You mean Haruta, right?”

“So you do know?” Marco sounded a little surprised.

Ace shrugged. “I had a hunch. So he used to be a girl, eh?”

Marco nodded slowly and took a sip from his water. “Early in his puberty, he got depressed because he didn’t feel like he was in the right body. So he started taking hormones and later on had a sex change. He is much happier now. So yeah, you’re actually spot on with that testosterone comment.” They chatted some more before their first courses were brought. Marco lifted his elbows off the table when the waitress brought their first courses.

Ace squinted suspiciously when he noticed the looks the waitress sent Marco. Deciding to let her know this wasn’t a business dinner or just two friends catching up, he asked bluntly: “So when did you realise you were gay?” It was a guess really – though an educated one, as he had never heard anything to indicate Marco was into girls, but a guess nonetheless. It wasn’t that he cared per se whether the man was gay or bi or something else that included men, but the waitress annoyed him, so it was a risk he was willing to take. And it worked.

Marco considered the question for a moment. “When most people do, I guess. During puberty.”

It took all Ace’s restraint not to stick out his tongue to the girl, but he settled for a triumphant look. The waitress wished them bon appetit stiffly before disappearing. Ace glared after her. When he focussed again on his food, he noticed Marco studying him.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he responded, though he was sure Marco was on to him.

Marco didn’t comment, however.

They started eating, talking about all kind of things. Marco told some anecdotes about his brothers, making Ace laugh so hard he almost spit out his food. For his part, Ace told some things he had experienced during his year of travel, leaving out Akainu. Marco smiled and listened attentively. Every now and then, Ace fell silent when their eyes met, and he couldn’t help but bite his lip.

The main course was brought by a pouting waitress. Ace kept an eye on her until she moved to another table. Marco looked a little amused, confirming Ace’s suspicion that he in fact knew damn well what was going on. He didn’t say anything, but touched Ace’s hand for a moment when reaching for his water.

Marco tried not to show it, but he was getting nervous. The date was going too well. It was amusing how easily Ace got jealous, even when he had confirmed that, yes, he was gay and therefore didn’t have any interest in the waitress. She was pretty, he gave her that, but he had only noted that when Ace started behaving weird. Right now, he was trying to think of something that would ruin the date, but every time he started thinking, Ace flashed him his dazzling smile, effectively short-circuiting his brain. He had wanted this for so long, just him and Ace, but he had never expect it to happen. Or rather, he had never though he would _let_ it happen. But here he was, sitting across the handsome man, way too close because of the tiny table, and said handsome man was currently rubbing his foot against Marco’s leg. Marco felt no reason to complain.

Ace was telling a story about when he and Luffy went to the zoo. “Really, that boy is a credit to his family name. He actually tried to climb the fence of the monkey cage to play with them, when suddenly an enormous guy, who was a keeper, comes our way. And he was huge.” Ace spread his hands to indicate how broad the man had been, knocking over Marco’s glass of water in the process. The glass fell on the table and the water spilled out of it, right over Marco’s shirt.

“Oh God, I’m sorry!” Ace grabbed his napkin and, kneeling down in front of Marco, he started dabbing up the liquid. The water caused to fabric to become a little see through, and Ace could almost make out the large tattoo that decorated Marco’s chest. And his rock hard abs stood out as well. Damn, those muscles!

“Do you need some help?”

Their waitress had come their way with a dry cloth to assist, but Ace snapped at her: “I’ve got it!” He pouted a little when Marco placed a hand on his to stop his rubbing, because, really, he didn’t mind continue feeling the man up. But when he looked up and met Marco’s warm gaze, he realised he desperately wanted to kiss the man. His cheeks heated up.

Marco rose and excused himself to dry off in the restroom. Ace nodded, but stayed kneeled like he was frozen. Finally, he managed to look aside. The waitress was still standing in the same place, her cheeks even a darker shade than Ace’s. When she saw him looking, she hastily continued with her job.

Lost in thoughts, Ace sat down on his chair again. He knew for a while he was attracted to Marco and that he liked him as well, but now it wasn’t even about sex anymore – though that would still be a plus. He just wanted to kiss him. He wanted to be the centre of Marco’s attention and he wanted the whole damn world to know that Marco was _his_.

Nerve wrecked, he started to eat the remainder of his food. The whole evening he had to restrain himself to what Nami called “eat like a normal person”. He remembered Izo’s words all too clearly about his eating manners being off putting, and that was the last thing he wanted with Marco. Even if he had already seen them. Things were going so well, he didn’t want to mess it up. Marco was nice and easy to talk to, even if there was an age difference. Ace didn’t care. He just wanted Marco.

When Marco returned – his shirt almost dry – Ace had finished his plate. Marco chuckled at the sight and sat down again. Ace opened his mouth to apologise for knocking over his water again, but Marco beat him to it. “So, what happened next?”

Ace looked slightly confused for a moment, until he realised Marco asked him to continue his story. “Right. So that guy tries to pull Luffy down, but my brother whines that he wants to play with the monkeys, and I swear, sometimes it’s like that boy is made off rubber. It takes two of those huge keepers to get him down and he was thrown in zoo prison, or however you call it. Gramps, our guardian, had to come pick him up.”

Marco chuckled. “He wasn’t with you to the zoo?”

“No.” Ace scratched the back of his head. “This actually happened two years ago.”

Marco laughed again. “He must really like monkeys. But you two aren’t related?”

Ace shook his head. “Not by blood. The man I call Gramps is actually Luffy’s grandfather. He adopted me after my parents died.”

Marco’s expression softened, and his hands took Ace’s, caressing them softly with his thumbs. Ace smiled sadly. He looked at his hands in Marco’s big, strong ones, before shaking his head and bringing the conversation to a lighter subject. “So you teach children aikido, right?” He smiled when Marco’s expression changed again to soft and proud, like a big brother.

“Yes. I’m actually just a substitute until their real sensei comes back. But she’s broken her hip, so it might take a while,” he said, and explained some more things about aikido and the kids.

Ace smiled, listening intently and highly aware that their hands were still holding. “I’d like to see you teach sometimes,” he said when Marco was finished.

Marco smiled at him again.

The waitress came to pick up their plates and asked if they wanted dessert. Ace’s eyes lit up so quickly it made Marco laugh, and the waitress gave them the menus again. Ace had a hard time deciding what he wanted, but eventually settled for a nut and date cake. Marco just ordered Moroccan mint tea. Ace asked for another espresso, but when the waitress made an attempt to walk away, he hastily said: “Make that a double.” He glanced at Marco and smiled. “I need to stay awake tonight.”

He asked Marco about his other hobbies. The man thought for a moment before answering: “I enjoy taking photographs.”

“Of what? ‘Cause I’ve been told I’m an excellent model,” Ace said with a wink.

Marco thought about the naked drawing – piece of art – of Ace he had at home and couldn’t help but agree for several reasons. But he said: “Mostly nature. I like hiking as well.”

Dessert was brought, and Ace dove on the cake like he didn’t just had dinner. Macro watched him, sipping his tea. It was mesmerizing the way Ace’s lips wrapped around the fork while taking a bite… Ace seemed to notice him looking, and did he imagine it or was Ace slowing down and taking a bite more seductively? He swallowed thickly.

“You want a bite?”

He was taken aback by the sudden question. “I wasn’t looking at–” he started, but realised it was probably better if Ace thought he was looking at his dessert and not at his mouth while imagining all the wonderful things that could do. So he sighed and said: “Sure.”

Ace smirked like he knew every dirty thought that was going on inside Marco’s head and extended his fork with a piece of cake on it. Marco took a bite, trying not to think how this could be considered an indirect kiss.

Having finished both their dessert and beverages, both men were a bit at loss about what to do. Marco was still thinking of a way to end the date in a way that would guarantee not having a second, when Ace suddenly moved his chair so he was sitting next to Marco, instead of across. They looked at each other for a moment.

The urge to kiss Marco had just grown during the rest of dinner, and Ace felt like he was going to explode. He extended his hand, caressing Marco’s cheek. His fingertips brushed over the stubble on his chin. Not being able to hold back anymore, he leaned in.

Marco was taken aback when their lips met. Even if Ace had sent every possible kind of body language his way, he still had assumed he had misinterpreted it, or that something would come in between again. But when Ace’s full lips touched his, he couldn’t help himself. He wrapped an arm around Ace, pulling him close, while his other hand caressed his hair.

The kiss was slow and controlled, but didn’t lack passion. Ace tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss. The moment his lips touched Marco’s, he had experienced the same feeling as when Marco had saved him when he almost fell down the stairs. A feeling like fire shot through his veins. The caresses of Marco only intensified the feeling, and Ace wondered if he felt the same.

Marco’s fingers traced Ace’s jaw line. The annoying voice that always reminded him of his guilt kept screaming he should stop right now, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. This was what he had wanted for so long. And it was better then he imagined.

Ace sighed into the kiss, sending shivers up his spine. Neither of them felt the need to anything more than kiss right now. Ace wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck, crawling in his lap. They didn’t care that they were still in a restaurant and that people were staring at them. Not even realising how much time had gone by, they only looked up when they heard a shy cough.

Their waitress was standing behind them, her cheeks flushed. “E-excuse me, but we would like to close up.”

Surprised, Ace noticed that they were the last guests in the restaurant. A little embarrassed, he slid off Marco’s lap, allowing him to stand up and follow the waitress in order to pay. When he returned, Ace was already waiting at the door.

Together they left the restaurant and, in silence, they walked in the direction of Marco’s car. Purposely looking in the other direction, Ace’s hand searched for Marco’s, touching it gently before intertwining their fingers. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Marco looking at him and he could already feel his cheeks heating up.

Suddenly, they stopped walking, and Marco pulled him close. Deft fingers caressed his cheek, before gently tilting his chin. Ace happily complied, and heir lips brushed briefly. Ace looked up and was met by the brilliant blue eyes that seemed to notice everything. Ace wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck, pulling him back in a kiss. Marco’s hand snuck around him, resting on his lower back. Ace bit softly on the other’s bottom lip, sighing when Marco’s tongue asked for entrance. Kissing Marco was like nothing else he had ever experienced. It was satisfying in itself, no need for more just yet.

“Give me you wallet, damn faggot.”

Assuming Marco wasn’t a ventriloquist, and otherwise would have picked a better moment to show him, Ace opened his eyes he hadn’t realised closing. Marco let go of him and sighed, sounding annoyed. Behind him, a hooded man was standing.

Marco gently pushed Ace back, before moving with the speed of light, pinning the attacker against the ground. The stranger whimpered, having his arm in a tight hold. Marco leaned in, whispering in a dangerous tone: “Have you ever had a real gun pressed against your back?”

The man swallowed hard before shaking his head.

“When you have, you’ll know the difference between that and some punk using his fingers pretending to have one. So here’s what’s going to happen: I’ll let go of you and you take to your heels, leaving us in peace. If not, my date will punch you in the face. Or worse.”

Ace had been watching in amusement. Though he had experience with being pinned down by Marco, at this moment he could only wish he was, lying on a bed. All the things Marco could do to him… Blinking his eyes to come back to reality, he cracked his knuckles to put emphasis on Marco’s last words. Marco moved away, and the attacker ran off as fast as he could.

Ace chuckled, before turning to Marco. “Have you really ever had a gun in your back?”

Lost in thoughts, Marco moved some black strands out of Ace’s face. “There is a lot you don’t know about me.”

Ace moved to close the gap between their bodies. “I’d like to find out,” he whispered in his ear. Ace kissed his cheeks before going for Marco’s lips again. This kiss was different from the ones before, more needy. Ace felt a hand on his upper leg, sliding upwards to cup his ass. He panted against Marco’s lips, pressing himself flush against him. He managed to extract a muffled moan from Marco, feeling rather smug about that. It seemed that even Marco lost control every once in a while, and that reason was Ace.

They let go for the need of air. “So tell me,” Ace said panting. “Did you hire that guy?”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”

“To be my hero and get into my pants.” Ace chuckled.

“I’ve never seen that guy before. And I doubt I’ll ever see him back with you around.”

Ace laughed. “I guess so. Besides, you didn’t need him to get me.” He pulled Marco close by his shirt. “You’re doing a fine job on your own.”

Marco hummed, pressing light kisses on Ace’s cheeks and jaw line. “Where would you like to go now?”

Ace made an appreciative noise and tilted his head to the side to give Marco better access. “Let’s go to your place.”


	12. Chapter 12

Air was knocked out of his lungs when his back hit a hard, smooth surface. He gasped, and Marco used that opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth. Ace wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him close. He was being sandwiched between Marco and the door, but he hardly saw a reason to complain.

They had made it to Marco’s house. It was a miracle they had been able to keep their hands off each other on the way home, but as soon as they both had left the car, Ace was all over Marco again. There was something about the man… He was drawn to him for some reason. He didn’t know what exactly it was. There was something more than just that Marco was nice and easy to talk to. More than the things that usually attracted him to people. He didn’t really care what it was right now, though, the only thing that mattered was that Marco seemingly felt the same. That Marco was hot as hell as well was only a plus.

Marco’s hands roamed his body while he nipped and sucked on his lips. Ace moaned, arching his back to push himself flush against Marco who was currently squeezing his ass. Ace was already regretting putting on tight pants.

Suddenly, the surface his back was resting against fell away, causing Ace to fall backwards. Strong arms caught him, without breaking their kiss. Apparently, Marco had managed to unlock the door without looking. That explained the jingling sound Ace had heard; Marco had taken out his keys.

Clinging to Marco as a drowning man to a lifebuoy, Ace let himself be led to the living room and be pushed on the couch. Ace didn’t take the time to look around; there would be enough time later, and, right now, he was too preoccupied. He pulled Marco down with him, kissing his lips a few times more before attacking the rest of his face. He grazed with his lips over the stubble on Marco’s cheeks and chin, before gently scraping his teeth against his jaw. Marco let out a sigh Ace felt rather triumphant about, it wasn’t easy to make Marco let out sounds.

Marco grabbed Ace’s chin and turned it so that they were kissing again. Ace was lying spread out on the couch with Marco between his legs. Finally breaking apart for air, Ace looked up lustfully to Marco. The kissing was great, but he needed more. Besides, he didn’t have sex in prison, so he was rather horny. And Marco already made clear he was interested.

“You wanna continue this in the bedroom?” Ace asked, still panting and sounding a little more needy than he wanted.

But somehow, his words broke the magic. Marco sat up brusquely, sliding off Ace. Ace followed his example, disappointed, and looked at Marco in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not going to have sex with you.” It came out more bluntly than Marco intended, but it had the effect he aimed for.

The somewhat worried, but still lustful look Ace gave him disappeared and made way for a cynical one. “Really now? ‘Cause only seconds ago it felt like you were trying to fuck me through my pants.”

Marco’s eyebrow twitched. He didn’t need to be reminded of how he let his iron control slip. But things had been going too well and he needed to put a stop to that. Especially when things were going in the direction of sex. So he leaned with his elbows on his knees, trying to figure out how he could explain himself. Ace was watching him expectantly, his jaw clenched in displeasure.

He needed to make sure that Ace didn’t dislike him, but didn’t want anything else either. Ace was young, he could take advantage of that by scaring him away. So, taking a deep breath, he said: “Ace, I’m not looking for a one-night stand. I want a relationship.”

He carefully studied Ace’s face. From what he had heard on the date about Ace’s travels and what he knew about his relationship with that police captain, Smoker, he had drawn the conclusion Ace enjoyed his freedom. Surely he didn’t want to get into a relationship with a man so much older?

But for some reason Ace’s face softened and he crawled closer, wrapping his arms around Marco’s waist. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled against his shoulder.

“What for?” Marco asked disbelievingly. What the hell went wrong here?!

“I know you’re looking for a partner, your brothers said so. But you don’t have to worry, I really like you, sex or no.”

Marco’s eyebrow twitched again. Once again his brothers’ well meant meddling had caused his plans to backfire. Ace nuzzled his face against his chest, and Marco absent-mindedly caressed his hair. What would he do now?

His thoughts were cut short when Ace pressed his lips against his and crawled into his lap. “It’s okay,” he mumbled. “I have to say, I was looking forward to see your bedroom. A few weeks in jail do that to someone. But I understand if you want to wait. I can do that.”

Marco wanted to respond that a few weeks without sex were nothing, but decided not to. After all, Ace was still young.

Ace kissed him again, before asking: “So, you obviously like me. Why didn’t you ask me out before?”

“I didn’t ask you out now,” Marco said deadpanned.

Ace pouted. “You know what I mean. Why didn’t you?”

Marco sighed. “Several reasons.”

“Like what? That you thought I wouldn’t go for guys?”

“You told Thatch that you did. So it wasn’t a secret for long,” Marco said sighing.

Ace chuckled. “Okay. Then what?” He turned a bit so he had a more comfortable position against Marco. “You’re not shy.”

He loved the way Ace was lying against him. He loved how they finally were alone, how they kissed, how Ace said he liked him. He couldn’t tell him the truth, not the entire one anyway. So he just sighed. “You’re so young…”

“I’m not a kid, you know,” Ace pouted, undermining his point a little. “And besides, I don’t care how old you are. You could be eighty-four for all I care. If you still look like this, you don’t hear me complain.” He rubbed over Marco’s abs. “But you’re not, right?” he added a bit worriedly.

Marco chuckled slightly. “Perhaps.”

Ace remembered how age wasn’t an appropriate discussion subject, but before he could change it, Marco said: “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“It’s a bit early to propose, don’t you think?” Ace joked, but when Marco raised his eyebrow, he shut up slightly flushed.

“That man, that eyewitness at your trial, why did he say he saw you there?” Marco had been wondering about that for a while now. There had been something about that Akainu he didn’t trust. The man had seemed too sure about seeing Ace. Hell, Ace would have gone to jail if it weren’t for that police captain!

Ace didn’t answer right away. He didn’t really want to talk about it, but Marco did have the right to know, didn’t he? He sighed. “He just doesn’t like me. That’s all.”

“Enough to make you go to jail for three years for something you didn’t do?”

Ace gave a scornful laugh. “Enough to try to kill me.” Immediately, he knew he made a mistake. He could practically feel Marco switch to protective brother modus.

And sure enough Marco’s tone had changed when he asked: “Why’s that?”

Ace plucked at Marco’s shirt. He really didn’t want to talk about Akainu, definitely not on their first date that was going so well until now. On the other hand, no one knew Akainu had made several attempts to kill him. His friends only knew that Ace had frustrated Akainu’s plans once, and they assumed his revenge was trying to put Ace in jail, not that the plan had been to have killed Ace in his sleep while in prison. Perhaps telling someone would take some of the weight of his shoulders. “Just… I was at the wrong place at the wrong time…” Taking a deep breath, he told Marco everything. From the almost murder he had witnessed, until how the police hadn’t believed Ace. He ended up telling even about the times he had almost died at Akainu’s hands, or at those of his minions to be exact. But it always had looked like an accident, and he couldn’t prove squat, so he constantly had to watch his back. “Recently, no attempts on my life have been made, so I kinda thought he had forgotten about me. It’s not like I’m really a threat, since I can’t prove anything. But apparently I was still a risk. I figured he was tired of failing so he gave up. But clearly he waited for the perfect opportunity to get rid of me. I have no doubt that he has bribed someone in jail. I think the medication that caused my insomnia has saved me actually. I’ve seen suspicious persons lurking around, looking at me,” he concluded in a soft voice.

A protective arm wrapped around Ace’s waist, deft fingers caressing him. Marco’s distrust of this Akainu had been rightly so, and the urge to get rid of him was hard to suppress. How dare he even try to hurt his Ace?!

Marco made a decision. He knew his reasons weren’t pure; after all, he was in love with Ace. He should end this date, but he couldn’t let Ace get hurt. In order to make sure of that, he had to keep Ace close to him. So now he couldn’t make him mad or drive him away. He had to keep dating him, just until Akainu was no longer a threat. He looked down where Ace just snuggled against him. Keeping him close shouldn’t be too hard.

Ace moved until he straddled Marco. “I don’t wanna talk about that anymore.”

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me,” Marco said. He sat up a little and caressed Ace’s thighs. It still amazed him how everything could fit in those tight pants, package standing clearly out. It was a good reminder that Ace wasn’t a little boy anymore.

“But I guess we can talk about my pants,” Ace said suddenly chuckling. “It seems like you’re interested in those~”

Marco started from his thoughts. Ace really had a knack for catching him having dirty thoughts. Well, Ace was the cause for those thoughts, after all.

Ace snickered and softly kissed his lips before continuing: “I still don’t know how Izo knew my size. I don’t think I want too either.”

Marco chuckled again. “My brother is a man of many talents. Some more useful than others.”

They chatted for a while when Ace started to yawn. Marco chuckled. “Shall I take you home?”

Ace looked a little hesitant, biting his lip.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Can I stay over?” Ace blurted out. “Not for sex,” he quickly added. “Just… Luffy’s probably at Nami’s and…” he trailed off.

Marco smiled, standing up, and reached out his hand. Happily, Ace took it and was hoisted to his feet. Finally, he had time to look around and he decided he liked Marco’s place. It was tidy, with stylish furniture. A place for an adult. He winced when he thought at what Marco must have thought when he was at his and Luffy’s house. Fortunately, Marco had said he was used to something growing up with that many siblings.

He followed Marco up the stairs, where Marco led him to the bedroom. Ace bounced into the room, enjoying the tidiness and the maturity of the decorations. Until his eye fell on a frame lying on the dresser. “Why do you have a naked drawing of me?”

Marco froze. Shit, he had forgotten about that. He hadn’t expected Ace to come home with him, after all, let alone be in his bedroom. “It’s art,” he stammered, something he was still trying to convince himself of.

Ace grinned. “Yeah, I guess it is. Did Izo give it to you?”

Marco nodded, still thinking about how he could explain.

“He’s a mean tease,” Ace chuckled. “I mean, he’s got drawings of, well, _all of me_.” He pointed to the bottom where the drawing ended, right where his family jewels would start. “But,” he continued, wrapping his arms around Marco’s waist, “now you can see the real deal without being spoiled.” Suddenly, a mischievous smile appeared on his face. “So… You framed it. That must mean you like it, eh?”

“It’s art,” Marco repeated. “And my brother is a great artist.”

Ace chuckled again and let the subject rest. Marco had already made very much clear that he liked the way Ace looked – if the groping of his ass was anything to go by – even if he didn’t have a naked picture of Ace.

Marco kissed his temple and excused himself, saying that Ace should make himself comfortable. Ace sat down on the bed, looking around. He could get used being here. Mischievously, he considered lying naked on the bed when Marco returned. After all, he doubted Marco could resist him, as he had hardly been able to when Ace was wearing clothes. But after a moment of thought he dismissed it. He respected Marco’s wish to wait, even though he doubted it was necessary. He liked Marco a lot. But despite the fact that he was horny as hell, and had to sleep in a bed with a hot guy, he was sure he could do that without that without touching Marco or himself.

* * *

When Marco entered the room again, he found Ace fast asleep, with his pants halfway around his ankles. He smiled slightly – not having expected anything else – and carefully started to peel off the rest of the trousers, before gently pulling the blankets over the sleeping Ace. Marco had changed into his pyjamas in the bathroom, slightly relieved he wore his silk light blue ones that could be considered sexy, instead of the fluffy comfortable pink ones Izo had given him once – and he denied to have ever to have worn.

He crawled into bed next to Ace and watched him sleep for a while. He loved how his handsome features looked relaxed. Pulling Ace close, he closed his eyes. It usually took him long to fall asleep, around three or four in the morning. But having a warm body next to him soothed him, and it didn’t take long to drift asleep.

* * *

For the second time in a row, Ace didn’t wake up in his own bed. This time, however, it didn’t take him long to figure out where he was. Everything around him smelled like Marco. Smiling, he opened his eyes, in the hope he would find Marco lying next to him.

Much to his disappointment, the bed was empty, though the covers were still slightly warm, so Marco couldn’t be up that long. Sighing, Ace rolled over to the other side of the bed, the place where Marco had lain. He had fallen asleep _again_ , never having noticed Marco joining him. Well, he just had to sleep over more often. One of these days, he was going to wake up next to Marco.

Suddenly, the sound of a shower running hit his ears. Ace untangled himself from the sheets and got up, not really sure what he was hoping to find. Much to his joy, however, he discovered that the bathroom door wasn’t locked. Slowly, he pushed the door handle down.

He was met by a cloud of steam. The moment he entered the bathroom, the shower stopped running, and, as soon as he could see something again, Marco had wrapped a towel around his waist. He looked at him slightly surprised, still dripping wet.

Ace grinned at him. “I assumed that leaving the door unlocked was some kind of invitation.”

“It wasn’t,” Marco answered dryly, using a smaller towel to dry his hair. “After living with so many people under one roof, I enjoy the freedom of not locking the door now that I’m living alone.” He left the hair towel resting around his neck and walked up to Ace, kissing him on the lips. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Ace answered smiling, not that disappointed that he couldn’t take a shower with Marco – though still a little.

“You can take a shower if you like,” Marco continued, moving around the bathroom with ease with the towel still around his waist. Ace had to suppress the urge to pull it off.

“Are you gonna join me?” he asked innocently.

“I just showered.”

“You should have woken me up. We could have saved water.”

“You’re too cute when you sleep.”

Ace puffed his cheeks and pouted. Now Marco had ruined the moment. “I’m not cute!”

Marco left him, snickering, after having pressed a kiss on his cheek. Sighing, Ace pulled off his boxers. This no sex thing was going to be hard, especially when Marco was parading around half naked. He turned on the tab, finding out that the thermostat was very hot, which meant that Marco liked to shower hot. Just like him. Good to know.

Ace tried his best not to touch himself in Marco’s shower, trying not to think about how only minutes before Marco himself had been standing here. Would he have jacked off? Ace thought about the naked drawing of himself in Marco’s bedroom. Marco had called it art, but would he have pictured the things below where the drawing ended? Would he ever have pleasured himself thinking of Ace?

That thought alone aroused Ace to no end. Quickly, he turned the thermostat to cold. He could practically see the steam coming off his body. Yes, the next few days, or worst case scenario, weeks, would be hard for him. Literally.

* * *

Downstairs, Marco had made a simple breakfast, apologising he didn’t have anything fancy in the house. Ace didn’t care and ate with relish. After eating, he hoped to spend some more time with Marco, getting to know him better, but Luffy called, complaining Ace had promised him to play videogames. Ace intended to brush him off, but Marco reprimanded him, saying he should keep his promises to his brother.

“Besides, there is something I have to do,” Marco said.

Ace nodded, a little disappointed, and made Marco promise to call him. And if he wouldn’t keep his word, Ace would always see him again on Monday.

* * *

Marco chewed on his lip as he drove in the direction of the orphanage he grew up in. He had been thinking the whole time what would be the best way to protect Ace against Akainu – without Ace noticing. He didn’t think Ace was weak, or unable to protect himself, he just didn’t want him to _have to_ protect himself. Marco would deal with this Akainu, even if it meant involving his family. His Pops knew many people, also in underground organisations. Maybe he could give Marco some information about this guy. Preferably something to bring him down for good.

Unfortunately, Whitebeard didn’t have good news for him. “I don’t know much about that man, besides that he is not the businessman he poses as. He plays dirty behind the scenes, but he is untouchable.”

Marco sighed. That was pretty much the same as Ace told him.

“Why do you want to know about this?” Edward Newgate asked a little suspiciously. “You’re not in trouble, are you?”

“I’m not. But that bastard is after Ace.” Marco clenched his fists. “I won’t let him touch so much as a hair on his head.”

Whitebeard nodded approvingly. “I heard you finally had a date with the brat. How did that go?”

Marco sighed. “At first I wanted to ruin it. But then Ace said that Akainu had made a few attempts on his life… I can’t allow him to get hurt. I won’t. Even if it kills me.”

“You like this kid.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, causing Marco to look up. “I told you that.”

“You’re willing to die for him, but not to tell him you–”

“I told you why I can’t!” Marco straightened brusquely. “And I know what you thinking: I’m not with him for the right reasons. But I will protect him. And this is the best way to keep him safe.”

“Is that what I think or what you think?” Whitebeard’s voice was surprisingly soft.

Marco turned around sharply. “I know what I’m doing. I keep him close until I’m sure Ace is safe. No longer than that. I can’t… I can’t tell him!”

* * *

That night, Ace was called by a very curious Izo. “You should have called me before. Didn’t I tell you to tell me every detail of your date?” Izo said reprimanding.

Ace raised his eyebrows. “No, you didn’t.”

“It should have been _implied_. So do it now. Tell me everything.”

Ace sighed, but he actually didn’t mind that much. “Well, I got home this morning…”

“This morning?” Izo’s voice sounded disapproving.

“We didn’t sleep together,” Ace reassured him. “Well, we did, but only in the literal sense. Besides, even if we did have sex, this wouldn’t be a one-night stand. It was really fun.” He started to retell everything that happened, every once in a while interrupted by a happy squeal made by Izo.

“So I can safely assume there will be a second date?” Izo concluded when Ace was finished.

“Definitely. And if he doesn’t call, I’ll see him at work tomorrow.”

Izo chuckled darkly. “Oh, he’ll call. I’ll make him call.”

He was right. Whether or not Izo ‘helped’, Marco called later that night to wish him goodnight.

“I thought you weren’t gonna call anymore,” Ace said sleepily. He had actually fallen asleep already, being woken by the sound of his phone. He was lying curled up in the blankets on his bed.

Marco chuckled. “I’m sorry. I was home later than I expected.”

“Where were you?”

“Visiting Pops.”

Ace nodded, not realising Marco couldn’t see him.

“He sends you his regards.”

“Really?” Ace was honestly surprised. Marco talked about him? A smile crept up his face. Yes, there would definitely be a second date. “Return them when you see him again. So,” he continued a little more awake now. “When do we go out again? Tomorrow?”

“Aren’t you eager,” Marco chuckled in his ear. “Maybe it’s better to wait a little. See how your first day at work goes.”

Ace pouted a little, but he could feel a sleep attack coming up and he didn’t want to snore in Marco’s ear. Again. “Okay, then we talk tomorrow, alright?”

The last thing he heard was Marco’s deep voice, saying: “Sure. Good night, Ace.”

* * *

It felt weird being at the fire station again. Ace took a moment to take in the building again before he entered. When he came into the hall, he stopped abruptly.

Every fire fighter on duty, and some not on duty, had gathered there. A banner with ‘Welcome back, Ace’ hung behind them, and two large cakes with his face on it were standing on the table. Grinning broadly, he greeted his colleagues, staring hungrily at the cakes despite having had breakfast not too long ago.

“We thought one might not be enough.” Smith slapped him on the shoulder.

“You know me too well,” Ace grinned, before looking around. “Were are the others?”

Jones frowned. “You mean Manager? He’s got the day off.”

“I meant Marco,” he snapped.

Jones and Johnson exchanged a look, and Smith said: “Come on, it’s just us fire fighters. He doesn’t get that, anyway.”

“Besides, we got your back. What did he do for you?” Jones added.

Ace glared at her. “Don’t get cocky just ‘cause you visited _once_. I’ve got better friends than that.”

“Did _he_ come to look you up?” Jones dared.

“Well, no…” he started, but she already flashed him a smug smile.

Smith placed a hand on his shoulder. “The guy said you’re hot in court, but that doesn’t mean you owe him anything. He did his job, that’s all. He’s not even the one who got you out!”

“Neither are you!” Ace yanked away. “What do you have against him?”

“You know what,” Johnson said. “You can’t trust him.”

“I _can_. You guys don’t even know him!”

“And I suppose you do?” Jones mocked.

“I’m the only one here who’s gone on a date with him!”

Silence fell in the hall. Even the fire fighters that hadn’t paid attention to the discussion and were only there for the cake had stopped talking.

Johnson was the first to react. “You what?!” he nearly shrieked.

Ace looked at him in surprise. Why did he care so much who he dated?

“Speak of the devil,” Jones mumbled when a certain blond came strolling down the stairs.

Feeling like he should prove a point, Ace made his way over to Marco, who just put away his phone. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi there. How is your first day going?” Marco asked. He was standing in a laid-back pose, a hand casually in his pocket.

“I just got here. There’s cake,” he added, sounding way too excited again. “You want some?”

Marco caressed some hair out of Ace’s face. “Not now. I’ve got a meeting to attend.”

“Okay.” Ace pouted a little. “But you should show these guys what you’re really like. They keep badmouthing you. You don’t deserve that.”

Marco smiled wryly. “We’ve gone on one date. You don’t know me that well.”

“I’m gonna find out. And besides, it’s not like you’ve killed someone, as they seem to think.”

Something changed in Marco’s face, very briefly, so Ace brushed it off as not important.

“Go back to your party,” Marco said. “Don’t fight with your colleagues on my account.”

Ace nodded, still pouting a little. He wasn’t satisfied, so when Marco made an attempt to walk away he grabbed Marco’s wrist and pulled him into a kiss.

In some twisted way, it was gratifying kissing Ace in front of his gaping co-workers. One of them tried to kill Marco with his looks, the one Marco had pinned to the floor not too long ago. Scorpion Johnson.

* * *

In the next couple of days, Ace tried to convince his colleagues that Marco wasn’t a bad guy. It seemed to work, they stopped giving Marco suspicious looks and even invited him to sit with them during the breaks.

Marco couldn’t care less what these people thought of him, but hanging out with them seemed to make Ace happy, so he did it without complaining. Only when the subject was directed to his past, Marco made sure to change it, but it didn’t seem like anyone noticed.

Things went really well between him and Ace. They had gone on their second date, if it could be called that, because Ace’s oblivious brother had joined them and then dragged Marco off to play videogames. He didn’t really mind, though. Luffy reminded him of his own brothers when they were younger. Plus, he had prevented everything even remotely related to sex.

Though it annoyed Ace a little they hadn’t slept together yet, he was glad all the stupid rumours about Marco had died away. Everyone seemed to have taken a liking to Marco now that he had proven to be a normal human being – really, if someone only bothered to talk to him before… That was why he was so surprised when he was called to the station manager’s office.

When he entered, his boss looked up from some papers. “There you are, Portgas. Sit down.”

Hesitantly, he did as he was asked. There fell a silence for a moment before the manager said: “I have had some complains about your and Fenwick’s… behaviour around here.”

“Complaints?” Ace asked surprised. Nobody seemed to mind if they stole a kiss in between. It wasn’t like they always clung to each other, or that their work suffered from their relationship. But what made him angry was that someone went to the boss behind his back, without talking to him first. “By whom?”

“That doesn’t matter. Look, Portgas, we like to give you boys some free rein here, but don’t make others feel uncomfortable just because you have a boyfriend. I don’t care what you do in your own time, but this is _my_ time, you understand? So cool it with the lovey-dovey stuff. That will be all.”

Ace tried to protest, but he was sent away. Pouting, he sat down at the top of the stairs.

Marco just came towards him, having been to the copy room. “Are you okay?”

“The boss says we’re too clingy! Can you believe that?” Ace burst out.

“Yes, he mentioned that.”

Ace jumped to his feet. “How can you be so casual about this? How am I supposed to keep my hands at bay if you look all sexy like that?” He gestured to Marco’s body.

Marco chuckled. “It can be annoying when people kiss in public. Which is why it’s nice I have my own office.” He made his way back to said office like he didn’t just invited Ace to stop by, leaving Ace behind smirking.

In his next break, Ace held Marco to his idea and snuck to Marco’s office. Marco was sitting behind his computer and smiled when Ace, who looked like a child that got away with stealing a biscuit, entered. He got up and walked to Ace, kissing his lips.

When they parted again, Ace took the time to look around. He had only been in the office once since Marco worked here, and that time he was too busy snooping around to have a good look. He wondered briefly if he should tell Marco about that, but quickly dismissed that. Maybe when they were together longer.

“So,” Ace said, sitting down in the comfortable desk chair, “since you have your own office, do you look at porn all day?” He gestured to the computer.

“Why would I do that?” Marco’s eyes flicked briefly to the large window that overlooked the training area. No, he didn’t look at the kind of porn Ace meant…

He hoped Ace hadn’t noticed his slip, but of course that was exactly what he did. A little confused, Ace looked at the training area, when a broad smirk appeared on his face.

“Have you been watching me?” Suddenly, the smirk disappeared. “Or have you been watching someone else? Who?” he demanded.

Marco chuckled and pulled him close. “Why would I do that if you insist on training shirtless?”

Ace snickered. “So you are a pervert.”

Before Marco could respond, there was a knock on the door, and the door handle was pushed down. Ace looked at Marco in horror, before diving beneath the desk. Marco was a little surprised. The desk was a great hiding place; the back, which was closed, was facing the door, so nobody could see Ace from there. Ace had found that spot awfully quick…

He didn’t get much chance to think about it as the station manager entered the room. Marco sat down casually behind the desk like there wasn’t a hot guy under there. Unfortunately, Ace thought it would be funny to run his hands up Marco’s legs in a seductive way. Marco tried to keep him at bay without being too obvious.

“Here’s that report back. Well done, Fenwick.” The station manager threw a file on his desk, oblivious to what was happening beneath it.

“Thank you, sir,” Marco replied, franticly hoping the man would just leave and withholding the urge to kick Ace.

At the door, the boss stopped. “You know, Fenwick, I appreciate that you took the whole Portgas thing so well.”

“Of course.”

The station manager reached for the door handle, where his hand hovered for a few seconds before he turned around again. “Let me tell you something about Portgas.”

Annoyed by the one and same fireman underneath his desk who was currently caressing his inner thighs, Marco grabbed the back of Ace’s head and pressed his face into his crotch. That effectively shut Ace up.

The manager gave him a funny look, but Marco kept his face straight as ever. “What’s that?”

The other man seemed to forget Marco’s strange movement and said: “Well, don’t get me wrong, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up with this kid. He’s a good guy, really, but he’s young and fickle, and before you know it he’ll be bouncing after someone else.” The manager turned to the door. “Guys our age should look for something more serious, you know?” With that, he left the office.

Sighing in relief, Marco let go of Ace’s head and got up.

Ace scrambled to his feet, hitting his head against the top of the desk in the process. Rubbing the painful spot, he couldn’t help but grin when he said: “You know, if you wanted my face in your crotch, you could have asked.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, but then Ace’s face turned serious again. “Though, that man’s got some nerve talking about me behind my back.”

“Is he wrong?” Marco asked while putting the file the manager had left into the file cabinet.

“That… No! I mean…” Ace pursed his lips and thought for a moment. Then he wrapped his arms around Marco’s waist from behind. “I usually don’t meet people as interesting as you.” He placed his cheek against the broad back. “Is that what you are afraid of?” he asked quietly. “That I lose interest after we’ve slept together?”

Before he could blink, he was spun around and pinned against the wall. Marco’s lips caressed his jaw and ear, before he whispered: “I’ll just have to make sure you’ll be coming back for more.”

Ace didn’t even have the time to bite his lip before Marco kissed him, holding promise for more. Ace pulled him closer. His eyes flicked to the window for a second, but they were on the second floor, so nobody could see them now.

Breaking apart for air, Ace grinned at Marco and, caressing his chest, he asked: “So you wanna watch a movie tonight? And then maybe go to your place afterwards?”

Marco pressed a chaste kiss on his forehead. “Sure. A movie sounds nice.”

* * *

After work, Ace went with Marco to his house. He would pick up his motorcycle the next day. They just had dinner, when the doorbell rang and Izo asked if he could borrow Marco’s car. By now Marco knew better than to ask why, so he gave his brother the keys and told him to bring it back _clean_. The cinema was close by anyway, no need to use the car.

When he came back into the living room, Ace had fallen asleep on the couch. Marco got a book and lifted Ace’s legs, placing them in his lap.

About fifteen minutes before the movie they agreed on started, Ace woke up. He sat up, looked at the clock and then at Marco, who looked up from his book.

“Ah, you’re up.”

“Weren’t you going to wake me? The film’s about to start!” Ace jumped to his feet and dragged Marco off the couch.

Marco chuckled. “I told you you’re cute when you sleep. I just couldn’t find it in my heart to wake you.”

“Shut up! I’m not cute! Now come on, before we miss it!” Cheeks flushed in embarrassment, he lugged Marco along. He didn’t bother to put on a jacket, as it was still pretty warm outside.

Marco put on his favourite purple jacket before following Ace outside. Ace was in a hurry, not wanting to miss the previews – and buy something to eat beforehand, of course. He was walking a little in front of Marco, keeping up a brisk pace.

Marco, on the other hand, walked in a normal tempo. Running still didn’t go well after his accident, even though he could do most things normally again. But after an intense aikido practice, his back usually hurt as well. He hadn’t told Ace about it, or about anything from his past really. Only a few things from his childhood. So he pretended just to be relaxed, and let Ace run along. He didn’t mind missing a part of the movie anyway.

They came at a pedestrian crossing with a traffic light, where the green light was already blinking. Ace took a sprint and reached the other side in time. A little annoyed, he saw that Marco hadn’t been able to cross and was waiting on the other side while the cars raced past. Impatiently, Ace hopped from one leg to the other. He could go on ahead and buy the tickets already, but, somehow, that didn’t feel right to do.

Finally, after which seemed to be forever, the cars stopped driving, and the pedestrian light changed to green again. Marco started to cross the street. Wanting him to hurry up a little – it was nice he was laid-back and all, but they were missing their movie! – Ace ran towards Marco, when he noticed something was wrong.

The pedestrian light was still green, but suddenly, one of the cars pulled up. It took Ace not even a second to realise what was happening.

The car was heading straight for Marco.

“Marco!” Yelling his name, Ace dove for Marco, launching him out of the way. Marco’s back hit the asphalt with a loud thud, but at least he wasn’t hit by the vehicle. Ace fell on top of him. Panting from adrenaline and shock, Ace turned around, to see the red car speed away, driving over the spot Marco had been standing only a few seconds ago.


	13. Chapter 13

Marco stared at the spot where he had just been standing. The red car had already disappeared from sight, but it didn’t get through to him.

It wasn’t the first time he almost died. Hell, not too long ago he should have died when that building collapsed on him. But every time he had put his life on the line, it had been his own choice, and it had been for a good cause. He had been protecting his family, his friends or had tried to save someone, even if it was a stranger. Now, someone had tried _taking_ his life, without someone gaining anything from it.

But there was something else. Previous times he hadn’t hesitated putting his life on the line, he hadn’t mind dying if it meant someone else could live. But now… He was happy. And he realised the reason of his happiness was currently straddling him, looking worried and saying something, though he didn’t understood what it was. It didn’t matter right now. The only thing he wanted was to bring his feelings across. He placed a hand in the back of Ace’s neck and pulled him into a kiss.

For a moment, Ace sat frozen. He had tried to get Marco out of his daze for a while, but Marco hadn’t responded to anything he said, only staring hazily past him. But Marco seemed to be back now, so Ace gave in to the kiss. A group of onlookers had gathered around him, and he heard one woman whispering she wished _she_ had saved Marco. Ace smirked a little and deepened the kiss. Until he felt something wet drip down his neck. He let go of Marco and grabbed his hand. “Marco, you’re bleeding!”

Still a bit hazy, Marco looked at his hand. Crimson liquid dripped on the asphalt. “Oh,” he managed to bring out. “It’s not that bad. We should really go now if we want to catch that movie.”

“You think I care about that?! You were almost hit by a car!”

A man with white hair crouched down next to him. He wore round glasses and had a goatee. “You really should see a doctor about that, son,” he said to Marco.

Marco stared at him for a moment. He looked very familiar, though he couldn’t put his finger on where they would have met. He opted for looking at his hand again. There was a nasty cut in his skin across his palm.

“I can take you to a hospital,” the man offered.

Ace had scrambled to his feet in the meantime and reached out his hand to help Marco up. Marco grabbed it with his good hand, but when he wanted to get up, a sharp pain shot through his lower back. He flinched and almost let go, recovering just in time.

Unfortunately, Ace had noticed his slip – as he always did – and asked: “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just fell a bit awkward,” Marco said quickly, not wanting to explain his old injury right now. Fortunately, he was still able to walk normally, even if it hurt like hell. Ace had already accepted the offer from the elderly man to bring them to a hospital, and he didn’t allow Marco to argue.

The friendly man offered him a cloth to staunch the flow of blood from his wound. There were already stains on his clothes and he saw the red spot on Ace’s neck from where Marco had grabbed him when he kissed him. Ace didn’t seem to mind, though, only casting him worried glances every once in a while.

They got into the car, Marco and Ace both in the backseat. During the drive, Ace moved closer to Marco, as far as his seatbelt allowed. “Are you okay?” he asked again.

“Yes, I’m fine.” With his good hand he caressed Ace’s cheek. “Thanks to you.”

Ace flushed a bit. “You know, I save people daily,” he muttered embarrassed.

The rest of the ride they spent in silence, both occupied in their own thoughts. Ace’s eyes kept flicking towards Marco, who had closed his eyes. Though Marco didn’t complain, he had to be in pain. Ace couldn’t help but feel responsible. Even though there had been many witnesses, what if the attack – because this could by no means be called an accident – had been planned by one of Akainu’s minions? It was fast, since he wasn’t dating Marco that long, but what if Akainu had decided to torture him by killing someone he cared about? Though that didn’t really make sense, he could have gone after Luffy a long time ago. But who would want Marco out of the way?

* * *

They were sitting in the doctor’s office, waiting for the doctor to come in. The blood spilling from Marco’s wound was still being stopped by the cloth. Ace was unusually quiet. Marco was just about to ask him what was wrong when the doctor entered and Ace’s mood veered around.

“Traffy!”

The doctor, a young man with short black hair and several piercings in his ear, looked up annoyed. “I told you not to call me that,” a smirk appeared on his face, “Firefist.”

A grin almost split Ace’s face in half as he bounced over to the young doctor and hugged him tightly, lifting him a little off the floor. Marco looked on intrigued.

“So, you’re a doctor now.” Ace sounded impressed. “Last time I saw you, you were still studying.”

“I’m an intern. That’s why I get stuck with boring stuff like setting stitches in your boyfriend.” Law washed his hands and dried them.

Ace flushed, his eyes flicking to Marco. He hoped Law’s blunt statement didn’t scare him off or something – though Marco was the one who wanted a relationship in the first place. Still, they had only gone on two and a half date, so it was a little early to call him his boyfriend, wasn’t it?

Ace had met Law in the year he had been travelling and during his studies Law had stayed at his and Luffy’s place for a while until he had found a place for himself. After that, they hadn’t seen each other much, since Law was busy studying.

“Anyway, how are you? Study’s going well, since you’re working here, I assume. How’s your love life? Dating anyone?” he asked curiously.

Law smirked. “Don’t know if you can call it dating, but let’s just say that I could return my bed before the warranty expired.”

Ace snickered. “Nice.” Knowing his friend always made pictures of his bed partners – something about wanting to have something to recognise them back in case things got ugly, Ace really didn’t want to know – Ace slipped his hand in Law’s pocket and fished out his phone. Law, who was just filling a syringe with a clear liquid – possibly an anaesthetic for Marco – almost dropped the needle. “What the hell, Ace!”

“Just wanted to see your boyfriend,” he smirked and searched through the pictures. The last one taken was of a guy with bright red hair that was standing almost upright. He was wearing black lipstick and his nails showed equally black paint. The man was obviously not aware the picture was being taken, one of Law’s many talents. Ace whistled. “He’s hot. Wouldn’t call him cute though.” He was aware that his friend had a thing for ‘bad boys’.

This was confirmed when Law grinned and said: “I wouldn’t either, or you’ll end up dead in the gutter. So how’s my patient doing?” He walked over to Marco, who still had the cloth pressed against his hand.

Ace sat down next to Marco, holding his good hand, and watched how Law pressed a hypodermic needle with an anaesthetic into Marco’s skin close by the wound.

“There’s no need for you to stay here,” Marco said to Ace.

“Of course there is. It’s my fault you’re hurt in the first place.”

Marco snorted. “You think I prefer being dead over a small cut on my hand?” He took Ace’s jaw in his hand and turned his face toward him. “You have nothing to feel bad about.”  
“What happened anyway?” Law had taken a movable chair and had just stuck a needle in Marco’s hand. Marco didn’t feel a thing, thanks to the anaesthetic.

“Someone tried to run Marco over!” The anger was evident in Ace’s voice. He grabbed Marco’s good arm.

“Oh? That explains the cop outside.”

“Cop?”

“Why don’t you go talk to them?” Marco said softly. “I’ll probably get painkillers, and I don’t know if I can think straight then.”

Reluctantly, Ace got up and left the room, but not before kissing him passionately.

After Ace left the room, Marco sighed.

Law’s eyes flicked up, before he continued his work. “So why do they want you dead?”

“I’m not sure. Though I don’t think it’s about me,” he mused. “They want to hurt somebody else through me. I think. Or maybe…” He trailed of a little. “Maybe it is. Maybe I annoy someone…” He winced a little when Law finished up a little rougher than he expected. The result was nothing to complain about, however. Neat stitches held the wound close.

Law covered them with a bandage and took a second to admire his work. “They’ll be removed in ten days. Don’t let them get wet with the next twenty four hours.”

Marco nodded and thanked him, but by getting up a wave of pain washed over him. His back again. Apparently, Ace’s friends were just as annoyingly observant as he was – well, Law was a medical student, trained to notice small symptoms – because Law glared at him and told him to sit his ass down and let him examine Marco.

* * *

A while later, he came out of the doctor’s office. His back hurt less, also because of the painkillers he got, but mostly because of Law’s manhandling. Right now he felt like he had been run over by a steamroller, and frankly, he just wanted to go to bed.

As soon as he saw Marco, Ace jumped up. “That took a while. Are you okay?”

“Yes. The doctor had some more questions for me.” It wasn’t a lie, Law had wanted to know why his back hurt, and, after he had told the story, how the hell he was alive, much less even able to walk.

“Oh. Okay. Marco, meet Tash.” Ace grabbed his arm, careful not to hurt him, and led him to a woman sitting on a chair. Marco recognised her as the partner of Smoker, the clumsy woman with the red glasses. He greeted her politely.

“Oh, Mr Fenwick, I’m glad to see you in one piece.” She shook his hand. Fortunately, his left one was the injured one, which meant he still could do everything. “And it’s Lieutenant Shigure. Tashigi Shigure. Mr Portgas told me what happened. Are you able to give your statement?”

“I think so. Though I have to warn you I have had some painkillers.”

Tashigi nodded and flipped open her note book. “That’s okay. We already have two statements from eyewitnesses. But I like to hear your side of the story.”

“Two?” Marco asked confused.

“Yes.” She flipped through her notes. “A mister Silvers has been so kind to give his version of the story as well.”

Marco looked confused, but Ace clarified: “The old man who brought us here. He had to go to some meeting though, but don’t worry, I thanked him for the both of us.”

Marco nodded and kissed his cheek.

Tashigi cleared her throat and pushed up her glasses. Ace got the hint and jumped up. “I’ll get some coffee. And Tash, give Smokey my regards.” With a wink, he left.

Marco stared after him, along with the flustered Tashigi. Ace was a carefree spirit, he knew that, but sitting here with Tashigi reminded him of the day he had pinned Ace to the floor – a pleasant memory in itself, but it was only because Ace had been fighting with Smoker about something. Marco couldn’t suppress the annoying feeling that had something to do with sex, and he really didn’t want to think about Ace with another man. He wasn’t naïve, he knew Ace wasn’t a virgin – far from it – but still.

“Mr Fenwick?” Tashigi’s voice startled him from his thoughts. “Could you please tell me what happened?”

Sighing, he tried to recall the details from the attack. He had been crossing the street, not in a hurry. Ace had come running towards him, for what he didn’t know. He had seen something coming up at him from the corner of his eyes, something big, and when he turned to look, he saw it was a car. He had felt like deer looking into headlights, as much as it embarrassed him, and he hadn’t been able to move. Ace had called out his name and jumped towards him. The next thing he knew, he was lying near the sidewalk where he had started crossing the street, with Ace on top of him.

Lieutenant Shigure asked him some more things, but no he couldn’t remember the colour of the vehicle; it might have had a licence plate; no, he didn’t see the driver either. Finally, Tashigi seemed to be out of questions.

Ace came back holding three paper cups of coffee, handing one to Marco and another to the Tashigi. “You’re all set?” he asked, sipping from his own hot beverage.

“Yes. Thank you, Mr Fenwick, you have been very helpful.”

He knew she was just being polite, but shook her hand anyway.

“Hey, we should try to find a ride. I could call Nami, but we’ll be cheaper off calling a cab,” Ace mused.

“I can bring you home if you like,” Tashigi offered, looking for her keys and accidentally making a jerking motion with the arm she was holding her coffee with. The piping hot beverage spilled over the edge, landing on Ace’s clean white shirt – except the back, which was stained with Marco’s blood near the neckline.

Tashigi looked on in horror, but much to Marco’s relief, Ace started laughing. “Don’t worry, I’d probably have to throw it out anyway,” Ace said cheerfully, like the stain the coffee would cause was the biggest problem. He pulled off his shirt, revealing his rock hard abs again for the world to see, though this time they were slick from the coffee and slightly pink from the heat. “So, it would be great if you could give us a ride.”

* * *

The next morning, Marco woke up with something heavy on top of his chest. Long hairs tickled his nostrils. Smiling, he opened his eyes and was met by a black head of hair. Somehow, Ace had managed to fall asleep on top of his chest, entangled with the sheets. Though it was more of a miracle that _he_ had been able to sleep.

Smiling, he brushed some hair out of sleeping Ace’s face. He looked so young now, so innocent… He felt something poking in his side and let out a chuckle. Okay, maybe not that innocent. Well, it was only to be expected from a healthy young male to have a morning erection.

His smile wavered. He had been selfish. Since they were dating he had only thought about what he wanted and should do, not how it affected Ace. They weren’t going out that long, and they never agreed to be exclusive. So what if… What if Ace decided he had enough of waiting for Marco to give in to sex? What if he would try and find it somewhere else? That shouldn’t be hard, he already had a ‘fuck buddy’, as he had so elegantly put it.

A deep sigh escaped him, blowing some black hairs out of his face. The main reason why he didn’t want to have sex with Ace – or rather, why he shouldn’t have sex with Ace – aside from that it would make things between them more serious, was because he would feel guilty of granting himself that pleasure. It would feel like he was using Ace, since he didn’t intend them to stay together. But… that didn’t mean Ace couldn’t feel pleasure, right?

* * *

Soft lips against his own woke him up, and he returned the affection eagerly. Opening his mouth, he allowed Marco’s tongue inside, kissing Marco passionately. The lips removed themselves from his, only to move to his jaw and neck. Ace let out a soft moan when he felt teeth grazing at his sensitive skin. Large, strong hands touched and caressed his torso. He arched his back, leaning into the touch. Oh God, he needed this…

His eyes flung open at this realisation. Fuck, he was horny and hard, and the things Marco was doing weren’t exactly helping. Well, they would if he continued…

Noticing Ace’s change in attitude, Marco kissed his cheek and murmured in his ear. “Good morning…”

Going off like a shot, Ace jumped to his feet. “I-I’m so sorry!” There was no way Marco hadn’t noticed his erection, proudly forming a tent in his boxers. And whilst that wasn’t that unusual, right now he really needed to get off. “I’ll go take a cold shower.” Or that.

“You could do that.”

Ace froze and hesitantly turned around. Marco was lying on the bed in just his boxers, popped up on one elbow and looking sexy as fuck. Were his hormones just fucking with him or did Marco’s tone actually imply another end to that sentence? He swallowed hard. “Or…?”

“Or I could help you out.”

Ace’s eyes widened, his body not complying. All he could do was stare. Did he hear that right? “But… I thought you wanted to wait?”

Marco shrugged. “I realised that my request was selfish. But it’s up to you, really.”

It took a few moments before his body listened to him, or rather his dick, again. In the blink of an eye, he was straddling Marco and kissing him passionately. Marco flipped them over and pinned him against the bed, careful not to use his injured hand, but Ace didn’t care, only busy with feeling as much of Marco as possible.

Marco decided that this was his show and covered them both by the blanket. Ace let him as Marco started to kiss his neck and moved south. He hissed when Marco licked his nipple, arching his back. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, but he loved every second of it.

Marco moved further down, pulling the blanket over his head before giving attention to the place Ace wanted to be touched. Ace’s legs were already shaking in anticipation; this shouldn’t take too long. Feeling like teasing a little, Marco kissed the throbbing erection through the cloth of Ace’s boxers. He earned a needy moan.

His lower back started to hurt again, so he needed to hurry up a bit. He pulled down Ace’s underwear and swallowed when Ace’s cock sprang free. He wanted Ace so bad, and seeing how much Ace wanted him now… Breathing heavily, he carefully kissed the tip. The body beneath him shuddered. He took a deep breath before slipping his mouth around the waiting cock. It took him all his willpower not to throw the blanket off of him to watch Ace. But the sounds that he made were almost enough to do him in.

It had been a while since he had done this for someone. He concentrated on keeping his teeth away from the sensitive flesh, before taking as much of Ace into his mouth as he could. He almost gagged, but recovered quickly.

A hand appeared under the blanket and searched around for a moment, before fingers intertwined with his hair. Marco had pinned Ace’s hips down, but now the desperate hand tried to push him forward. He decided to get this over fast, for the both of them. Sucking Ace off might not give him pleasure, as he had forbidden himself to touch himself, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a raging boner. He took Ace in as deep as he could one more time, before making a moaning sound. He heard Ace curse and stammer out a warning, when his body gave in. Shuddering, he came. Marco tried to swallow everything, but couldn’t prevent some cum dripping from his chin. Wiping it away and crawling back up again, he lied down next to Ace on the bed.

Ace immediately wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in a kiss. When the parted, Marco brushed some hair out of Ace’s face. The expression Ace wore was both adorable and incredibly sexy at the same time, an odd combination and still completely irresistible to Marco. He pulled Ace into a kiss again, reasoning that he should enjoy the opportunity while he could.

Still panting, Ace hit his face in the crook of Marco’s neck. “Thank you,” he mumbled.

Marco chuckled a little. “Don’t thank me. Rather, see this as my thank-you for yesterday.”

Ace looked up to him with his big brown eyes, smiling. “I guess I will have to save your ass more often…” His words trailed off and were soon replaced by a soft snoring.

Sighing, Marco untangled himself from the sheets and Ace’s limbs. At least now he would be less tempted to fuck Ace senseless.

* * *

Ace woke up from his phone ringing. Sleepily, he looked up. He was lying in the spot that Marco had occupied that night, only now without Marco. Things that took place that morning came back to him, and he quickly lifted up the blanket to confirm. He was naked. Grinning broadly, he let himself fall back in the pillow. Marco had actually given him a blowjob. It wasn’t how he expected that their first time doing something would go, especially not him falling asleep right after, but he wasn’t complaining.

Falling… asleep.

Marco had done his best to pleasure Ace, and how had he thanked him? Groaning, he rolled over to his side. Marco had ran the whole show, but did he even get off? Ace had hoped he would get to see Marco naked as well. Ace had tried to postpone his orgasm, but it really had been a while, and Marco was really talented with his mouth… And then Ace just had to fall asleep right after.

Suddenly, he remembered what had woken him in the first place, and he rolled over again to look for his phone. It was conveniently placed on the nightstand, though he couldn’t remember putting it there. But when he opened the text message he had received, things became clear.

 _‘Good morning. I had to leave for work and seeing how cute you are, I couldn’t bring myself to wake you. So I have asked Izo to bring you to the station. He should be there in half an hour and he doesn’t like to wait. On pain of his wrath. M_ ’

Ace chuckled at the last sentence, after scowling at the second. Marco just loved to tease him with that… Still, it was very considerate of him to ask Izo to take him to work, since his motorcycle was still parked there. Though it might have been better for Marco to take the day off after the shock from last night. Well, Ace would have done the same, going to work right after, so who was he to judge?

He got up and took a quick shower. He was just chewing the last of his breakfast when the doorbell rang. Izo was already looking at his watch when Ace opened the door. Marco was right, he did not like to wait.

They chatted in the car about Izo’s upcoming art gallery. Apparently, things were going according to plan and the tickets sold rather quickly. “Don’t worry, my star doesn’t have to buy anything. And invite your friends as well,” Izo said. “I would love to meet them.”

Ace considered telling Izo about what had happened to Marco last night, but Marco had specifically asked him not to tell any of his brothers, as they would only be unnecessarily worried. Ace was about to retort that his family had a right to know, when he realised he would do the same thing. No one, other than Marco, knew Akainu was trying to get rid off him. Luffy had asked about Akainu after the trial, but Ace said he had nothing to worry about and his brother had let it rest. He didn’t feel right about lying, but he didn’t want to involve the people he cared about. He hadn’t want to involve Marco either, but if Akainu was behind the attack from last night, he must have spies everywhere. Another reason not to tell Izo.

Izo pulled over at the fire station.

“Thanks Izo.” Ace was about to exit the car when Izo stopped him.

“Not so fast. First give me some sugar.” He tapped with his index finger on his cheek covered in make-up.

Ace grinned and gave him a quick peck. “Thank you, Izo,” he said in a sing-song voice, before getting out for real this time. Some of the firefighters passing by gave him an odd look, but he just grinned at them.

He had to wait until his break to see Marco, but when the time came, he ran up the stairs straight away and swung open the door to Marco’s office without taking the time to knock. “I’m so sorry!” he blurted out.

Marco looked up with an amused look on his face. “Good morning. I see you got my text.”

“Yeah, I did. Thanks for that. And the other thing as well… Now take off your pants!” Ace closed the door and locked it.

Marco cocked his eyebrow. “We’re at work.”

“I know, but I wanna return the favour. And you said it yourself, this is your office.” Ace leaned with his hands on the desk and tried his best to look seductive. An offer like his was hard to refuse, right?

Marco, however, just got up and put a file into the cabinet, before searching through the rest and pulling another out. “Really, Ace, that’s not necessary.”

Ace pouted a little. “So, what? You jacked off when I’d fallen asleep?”

Marco sighed and sat down again. “No.”

“Then I don’t get it.” Ace made a frustrated noise. “You do know what I’m offering, right?”

“You want to give me a blowjob in my office.” Marco didn’t even look up from his computer where he was typing.

Ace was about to say something, but then sighed. “I don’t understand you. You have to have some amazing willpower. And even then, I don’t get the problem. I like you, and you obviously like me back.”

Marco didn’t respond and continued his typing.

“So,” Ace continued, “there has to be another problem.” He thought for a moment, when sudden realisation hit him. “Wait, is it ‘cause you can’t? ‘Cause, you know, they have pills to help–”

The file that was smacked on the desk startled him, and he looked up in Marco’s brilliant blue eyes. They showed an emotion Ace hadn’t seen before in Marco and was hoping not to see too often in the future. Anger.

“I have my reasons not to sleep with you, and believe me, they have nothing to do with my body,” Marco all but snarled. He got up from his chair and turned to the window. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have stuff to do.”

Ace stood frozen to his spot. He couldn’t believe how stupid he had been. Thatch and Izo had warned him age was a tricky subject for Marco, and here he was practically calling him old right in his face. Though his face had betrayed no emotion, Marco’s eyes spoke volumes, and Ace was sure he never wanted that anger directed at him again. Swallowing hard, he bowed, clenching his fists and eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry.”

He didn’t look up, but he heard footsteps coming towards him, before a hand intertwined with his hair. Marco sighed deeply. “It’s that frustrating for you, hm?”

Ace still didn’t look up, but did lean into the to the touch. “I just don’t understand. You do find me attractive, right?”

He heard Marco chuckle. “Well, I do have eyes, don’t I?”

Ace looked up and was relieved to see that the anger in Marco’s eyes had made place for a warm look. A hand wrapped around his wrist and Ace let himself be pulled in a hug.

“Did I scare you?” Marco asked softly in his ear.

“Well, I know I don’t wanna be on your bad side. I wouldn’t want to feel your wrath.” Ace couldn’t help but grin.

Marco caressed his temple with his nose. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Get your filthy paws off me!”

The sudden yell from downstairs was followed by a noise of something big and heavy falling over. Ace exchanged a confused look with Marco, before the former dashed to the door. From the landing, he looked down to the hall of the fire station. Much to his surprise, Smoker was standing there, accompanied by Tashigi. Smoker was currently busy putting handcuffs on one of the firemen, while Tashigi read him his rights. Shocked, Ace recognised Johnson as the one being cuffed.

Taking two steps at the time, he made it down in no time. “Smokey? What the hell is going on?”

“…Do you understand the rights as they have been read to you?” Tashigi finished.

“Fuck off with your rights!” Johnson spat at her.

Smoked pushed Johnson’s arms, which were cuffed behind his back, a little up, and he winced. “Have a little respect,” Smoker hissed, before turning to Ace, who was still standing wide eyed and confused. “We’ve watched the tapes from the traffic camera of the ‘accident’ last night. Guess in whose name the vehicle is?”

In the meantime, the other firefighters had left their stations and gathered to watch the spectacle, including the station manager. The latter stared at one of his best firemen in disbelief.

Ace’s eyes went even wider of possible after hearing Smoker’s words. “Johnson? What… Why?” he choked out.

“Why the hell do you think?” Johnson spat at him. “That faggot calls you hot and that is all it takes? After you’ve been apparently fucking a cop for months?!”

Said cop pushed his arms up again and Johnson yelped in pain again. “This… This is police brutality!”

“It’s not my fault you keep squirming like the vermin you are,” Smoker grouched.

Marco had just made it down the stairs. He stood erect, his eyes dark and dangerous.

Ace was shaking in anger. “What the hell do you care who I fuck?! You fucking bastard, you tried to kill my boyfriend!” His clenched fist shot out, connecting with Johnson’s jaw. A loud cracking sound echoed through the room.

Johnson would have fallen down if Smoker hadn’t hold him up by his handcuffs, blood dripping from the edge of his mouth.

“Oi Ace, I can let that one slide as self defence, but keep it together, will ya?” Smoker grumbled.

Ace stood still panting in anger and he would have clogged his former friend another one, had not deft fingers caressed his back. Somehow, he instantly relaxed into Marco’s touch.

“Come on, fire boy. Let’s get you to the station.” Smoker jerked Johnson towards the exit, followed by the station manager, who demanded an explanation. Passing Marco, Smoker nodded and said gruffly: “Mr Fenwick.”

“Captain Smoker,” Marco said in the same tone.

Ace would have felt awkward of having his former bed partner and his current lover in the same room, but he was still livid. Why Johnson would feel the need to go this far was beyond him. He didn’t regret hitting the man, and would actually do it again, but Smoker couldn’t help him if he went too far.

A hand snuck up his shoulder and squeezed it slightly. “Are you okay?” Marco asked softly.

“Are you? That guy, one of us, tried to kill you!” Ace all but shrieked.

Marco sighed and pulled Ace towards him.

Ace looked up. “Wait… Did you know?”

“I’m just not that surprised.”

“But… Why?”

Sighing, Marco told what had happened at their encounter while Ace was in jail.

“Shit,” Ace muttered. “I had no idea… And I _know_ when people like people.”

“You didn’t know I liked you until I spelled it out to you,” Marco reminded him, chuckling.

“Yeah, but now I missed two!”

Marco pulled him into a hug, musing for a while, before asking softly: “Ace?”

Ace hummed to indicate that he was listening.

“You called me your boyfriend.”

Ace froze for a moment and thought. Yes, he had called Marco his boyfriend right before clogging Johnson in the face. “Yeah, how about that? It slipped out.” Carefully, he studied Marco’s face. “Are you okay with that?”

Instead of an answer, Marco pulled him into a passionate kiss. Ace hummed pleased when the kiss deepened and he could barely suppress a moan. When they parted for air, Ace snickered. “We’re not supposed to do that here.”

“I’m pretty sure Scorpion was the only one that complained,” Marco murmured. He leaned in for another kiss, only to be interrupted by the sounding of the alarm.

Ace gave him a quick last peck. “Sorry, babe, duty calls.” With a wink, he left to change.

The station manager re-entered the building, watching his men run around in approval, before standing next to Marco. “I heard what happened. Good thing Portgas has such quick reflexes.”

Marco nodded, but didn’t say anything.

The manager saw that as a sign to continue. “I’ve lost one of my best boys today, Fenwick. I do not condone Johnson’s behaviour, of course, but he will be missed.” He looked Marco up and down. “You have been walking without crutches for some time now. Think you might want to pick up your old job someday? I’d love to brag about having the Phoenix on my team.”

Marco’s eyes flicked over to Ace, but he was out of earshot trying to get his boots on and walking at the same time. “I told you, those days are over. And I’m still not back to normal yet.”

The station manager looked him over and sighed. “That’s too bad. Well, if you’re up for the job, please let me know.” He walked away, trying not to get in the way of the firefighters running around.

Marco watched Ace jumping in one of the fire engines that pulled up with blaring sirens and smiled a little. Ace looked incredibly hot in his firefighter’s uniform, and even hotter out of it. Ace liked him, he was funny and cute – even if Ace himself didn’t want to acknowledge it – and he just punched someone in the face who had tried to hurt Marco. On top of that, he could call Ace officially his boyfriend now.

Marco was so screwed.


	14. Chapter 14

Marco probably should have cancelled his aikido class, since his back still hurt a lot, and he still had stitches in his hand. But the kids only had an hour training a week, and he couldn’t possibly find replacement at such short notice. After all, he was already a replacement himself. That, and he could already imagine all those pouting faces – that was including Ace’s. Ace – Marco’s _boyfriend_ – had been really excited to come along and watch him give training. Marco couldn’t possibly deny him that. Plus, he hadn’t told Ace he hurt his back, since that would lead to all kinds of awkward conversation.

Who was he kidding? He didn’t want to look weak.

“You sure a judo suit will do?” Ace asked curiously. “Don’t I need those black pants thingies?”

“ _Hakama_ ,” Marco corrected him while placing his own in his bag. “And no. You get those when you’re more advanced. If you want them right away, you should practice _naginata_ , for instance.”

“That’s the spear thingy right?”

Marco let out a low chuckle. “Yes. You know quite a lot about Japanese martial arts.”

“Yeah, Zoro is pretty obsessed with them, so he talks about them a lot. The judo suit is his as well. Er… judo _gi_ , right?”

“Right.” Marco smiled at him. “Come on, we should go.”

“Your class doesn’t start until seven, right? We’re still early,” Ace said.

“That’s true, but I like to do some warming up before the children arrive.”

It wasn’t meant as an innuendo, and Ace knew it, but his body thought differently about that. He reprimanded himself, after all, it had only been yesterday that Marco gave him a blowjob, but the memories of what that talented tongue could do… He shook his head in the hope that these thoughts would disappear, and followed Marco to the car.

The drive to the dojo was a short one. Marco parked his car and led Ace inside. Ace stared his eyes out. He had been to the dojo where Zoro practiced before, but this one was much bigger. Suddenly, he noticed a woman with violet hair. “Hey, Nojiko!” he called enthusiastic.

She looked up, looking from him to Marco. “That’s a surprise to see you here, Ace. With Marco.”

“You know each other?” Marco asked surprised.

“Of course! She’s Nami’s sister.”

Now it was the turn of Marco to look from one to the other. “That… actually explains a lot,” he mumbled.

They chatted for a while, before Marco pointed out they really had to go. In the changing room, Ace tried not to look at Marco undressing and was almost relieved when Marco was fully dressed again – until he noticed how the jacket showed a lot of his chest. He sighed. It was going to be hard not to jump him during the training. He reminded himself that they trained with kids, before taking a deep breath and following Marco to the hall they trained in.

Marco wore a protective glove, to shield his stitches. He showed Ace some basic movements, like how you were supposed to fall without hurting yourself, when the children entered. There were nine today, one of the girls was sick.

Ace took a seat next to the kids and watched Marco sit across the group. “We have a special guest today,” Marco started. His eyes darted to Ace and he smiled slightly. “Ace is going to train with us. So show him what you can do, okay?”

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the children’s curiosity. Instead of staying seated, they surrounded Ace. “Are you Sensei’s friend?” Mira asked.

Ace scratched the back of his head. “I suppose you can call me that, yeah.”

“Are you the friend that was in jail?”

This confused him. How would they know that? He looked at Marco, who was trying very hard to evade eye contact.

“Yeah, a few weeks ago Sensei was really sad, so we went to visit him and he told us he had a friend who was arrested for something he didn’t do,” Arthur explained.

“Really now?” He smirked. So Marco had worried about him?

“So are you him?” Mira asked.

He nodded.

“Then what didn’t you do?”

“I didn’t set a restaurant on fire,” he answered. “’Cause that’s bad.”

“And did Sensei tell you how he felt?”

He turned his head to look at the newest speaker. The small girl flushed under his gaze and her cheeks turned to an even darker shade when he grinned at her. “Oh, he told me alright.”

“That’s enough.” Marco’s tell tale eyebrow twitch caused the kids to take their seat again. They bowed to their Sensei and Marco started the warming-up. After that, he explained the exercise. He had decided on some easy movements the children already knew, but hadn’t perfected yet. That way Ace could easily come along, and Marco didn’t have to demonstrate too much, sparing his back.

Ace’s first partner was the short girl who had spoken last to him. He reached out his hand to start the exercise, and she almost fainted. “Come on, show me what you’ve got.” He grinned when she nodded and had him suddenly pinned against the floor.

The rest of the training, Marco made them do basic exercises, but at the end of the hour the children started to whine. “We already know this stuff,” Arthur pouted. “When are we gonna learn something bad ass?”

Ace chuckled at the choice of words, but was silenced by an eyebrow raise from Marco.

“Sush,” Mira reprimanded Arthur. “We’re doing the easy stuff for Ace, right Sensei?”

Marco pursed his lips and the sighed. “Partly yes. However, you might know the movements of these exercises, but you haven’t perfected them yet.”

“But we wanna do something cool,” Arthur piped up again, and some of the other kids joined in.

“You know, these basic movements can be very well used in a fight,” Marco objected.

“Then show us, Sensei!”

He should say no. He knew he should, but how could he ignore ten pairs – yes, Ace joined in as well – of puppy dog eyes? “Alright,” he sighed, immediately knowing that he would regret this. “Ace, if you please?” He gestured to the open space on the mats. “Oh, and Ace is a boxer.” He smirked when he saw the awe on the kids’ faces.

“Are you sure about this?” Ace whispered.

“I am. And please don’t hold back. Punch me with all you’ve got.”

The children already seemed to regret asking Marco, if the shocked looks on their faces were anything to go by. He wouldn’t let them down.

Ace attacked – though Marco was sure he didn’t use his full force. Not yet. Ace aimed for his stomach. Marco stepped by him, to his backside, before placing Ace’s head against his shoulder, turning and causing the man to fall on the mats. He took a step back and nodded when Ace looked at him questioningly. Ace attacked again, going for his head this time, but again Marco pinned him to the floor. The trainer tried to use the basic movements as much as possible, while Ace didn’t stop attacking.

Finally, they were both out of breath, but the hour was up anyway. Marco sat down on his knees before his class again and Ace took his seat in line again.

“You see, if you control the basics, you control the fight,” Marco explained. “And that is what we want, to be in control and make sure the fight does not turn violent. Don’t look for conflict.” With those words, he ended the training by bowing to his pupils, who mimicked the action.

While the kids retreated to the changing rooms, chattering about what they just witnessed, Ace walked up to Marco. “That was really awesome. I mean, I can hit pretty hard, but I guess that doesn’t really matter if you deflect it anyway.”

Marco smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed the training.”

“Could you show me that head thingy again?”

“You mean _iriminage_?” When Ace shrugged, he laughed. “Okay, come on. We’ll start off easy.” He offered his right hand and gestured Ace to grab him crosswise, so also with his right hand. Then Marco moved to his backside, so that they were standing chest to back, before placing Ace’s head against his shoulder and turning. Ace was lying on his back before he knew it and was very happy Marco had taken the time to show him how to fall properly. Marco showed him again, more slowly, and then told him it was his turn. Ace copied the movements Marco had made, being corrected a couple of times, but finally he managed to have Marco lying on his back on the mats.

“Very good,” Marco said smiling and tried to sit up, only to be held down by a hand on his chest.

“Actually,” Ace said smirking, “I kinda like you in this position.”

Marco couldn’t help the smile that crept up his face when Ace hovered over him and leaned forward to kiss him. This was one of the few times he didn’t mind being pinned down. Not in the least because his back was killing him again.

“Sensei is being attacked!”

Before Marco knew what was happening, three boys had jumped Ace and were trying to hold him down. Ace wasn’t helping, being stuck in a laughing fit.

The door of the girls’ changing room opened, and several curious heads looked into the room. Marco snapped out of his haze and straightened, towering over Ace and the boys. “What are you doing?”

Frits turned around. “He was attacking you, right? You just showed us you can’t lose, so he had to use some trick, right? We couldn’t let that happen,” he said pouting.

“That is not how I taught you.”

Ace finally seemed to calm down, looking up to him. “You condone this?”

Marco smirked. “They were just trying to protect their sensei.”

“I didn’t hear you complain,” Ace muttered.

In the meantime, the girls had joined them, and Ace had managed to get the boys off him. The children chattered all at the same time, the girls asking what had happened and the boys explaining that their sensei was being attacked. Marco sighed and gestured the kids to sit down. He exchanged a glance with Ace, wondering how he should explain. After all, he had no idea how much these children knew about the birds and the bees, so to speak. Eventually, he took another deep breath and said: “Ace wasn’t attacking me. I showed him how properly do _iriminage_.”

“But after you finish, you should back off, right, Sensei?” Arthur piped up.

“Yes. Usually, that’s the case. However…” He hesitated for a moment, but he had the children’s undivided attention. “He wasn’t attacking me. He was kissing me.”

Arthur cocked his head. “But you’re both boys.”

Marco smiled. “Yes. Ace is my boyfriend. I’m gay.”

Joyce raised her hand like she was in class. “What does that mean?”

“It means that Sensei likes boys,” Mira, apparently a walking dictionary, explained.

“No!” Marco interrupted her sharply. “It means I like men.” He glanced at Ace, who was snickering. “You really wanna find out what happens if they tell at home I like boys?”

Ace shook his head, but couldn’t suppress his laughing fit. Marco sighed and turned his attention back to the kids.

“So, are you gonna get married?” Andrea asked.

Marco felt his cheeks heat up and he was glad Ace was too busy laughing to pay attention. “We’re really not together that long… Now, you should go change, before your parents get worried.” He ignored their protests – and the stringing pain in his back – and hurled Ace towards the changing rooms. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the boys following them and the girls returning to their changing room as well.

The boys got undressed and ran into the showers. Marco always showered at home and told Ace to do the same. They should hurry up anyway and explain the hold up to the waiting parents.

From the corner of his eye Ace watched Marco undress. There was something mesmerizing about it. Marco looked ridiculously hot in his _gi_ and _hakama_ – he felt a little proud he had remembered that – but it was even better when he was taking them off… A questioning look by Marco was enough to make him start undressing as well.

Outside the changing room, they met some of the parents. Marco explained that the training had overrun its time, but that the children should be out soon. Andrea’s mother approached them and asked him if he had thought about her suggestion to let the parents train along. She started an enthusiastic story about how the other parents liked the idea as well. Realising he wasn’t getting out of it, he agreed to have them in two weeks time. The woman offered to inform the other parents, already starting inviting the waiting parents and when she found out Ace had helped out with the training, she made him promise to join in too.

One by one the children emerged from the changing rooms and left along with their parents. Andrea was last to exit the changing room. She grabbed her mother’s hand waving enthusiastically. “Bye, Sensei! Bye, Sensei’s boyfriend,” she called, before starting telling her mother about the training. Marco was somewhat relieved that the other parents had left already. He really didn’t feel like explaining why he had brought Ace to the training. Hell, he didn’t feel like standing right now.

Along with Ace, he walked to the car. He hardly paid attention to Ace's happy chatter – something about being stuck with Ace for another two weeks – because his back was killing him. Maybe he should go see Ace’s doctor friend again, he was a no-nonsense kind of guy Marco liked and the last time it did relieve his back. But he couldn’t ask Ace for his number without raising suspicion. It probably would be better by tomorrow anyway. No need to worry Ace. Or make him think Marco was old.

* * *

With a sigh, Ace let himself drop on the couch. He could honestly say he was bored. Luffy was visiting his friend ‘Bon-chan’, a cross dresser Ace would like to introduce Izo to sometime. His brother had asked him to come along, but at that point he still had thought he would be out with Marco. Marco, however, had just called and told him that his work was running late.

It was a few days after the aikido training. Most of his free time Ace spend with Marco, much to the annoyance of his friends. Zoro was annoyed with him anyway, because, according to him, all Ace could talk about was Marco. He had fled with a lame excuse of having left the oven on – something Ace knew was a lie, since Zoro had no clue how to operate one. But he also knew Zoro went to see the person who did know his way around the kitchen, Sanji. He couldn’t say he minded. Of course he liked to hang out with the two of them, but he realised they needed time alone if this was ever gonna work out. At least he hoped so. He’d hate to meddle.

Who was he kidding? He _loved_ to meddle. Still, it would be nice if they worked it out themselves. However, this meant he had a few hours to kill before Marco would come over. He wondered if tonight he could persuade Marco to have sex with him. He hadn’t dared to bring it up again. Marco had been pretty pissed when Ace had suggested he couldn’t get it up, but Ace was running out of ideas what could be the problem. Unless Marco had experienced some kind of trauma… He sure hoped not.

Ace sighed. He could use some advice on this. But who could he ask without hurting his pride too much – after all, he never had any trouble to get _anyone_ into bed he had set his heart on. So Zoro and Nami were out of the question, as was Law. Sanji would probably not be comfortable talking about gay sex – though that might by a reason to do it anyway. Luffy understood as much about sex as he did from rocket science, so he wasn’t an option either. Then who?

He was started from his thoughts by the doorbell ringing. He jumped up excitedly. Maybe that was Marco, home early to surprise him. A grin plastered on his face, Ace made it to the door. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Marco standing on the doorstep, but an unknown man. Raising an eyebrow, Ace realised that this guy looked a lot like Smoker. He was muscular with greenish grey hair and a gruff expression despite the sun glasses he wore. He even was smoking two cigars at the same time. Ace shrugged, maybe it was a look or something, because this obviously wasn’t his Smokey. “Can I help you?”

“Portgas?” he grouched. When Ace nodded, he pressed a box into Ace’s hands. “Delivery.” With that, he turned around and left.

Staggered, Ace stared down to the box in his hands. It looked an awful lot like a cake box. Curiosity got the better of him, and he peeked inside. To his joy, he saw that there actually was a chocolate cake in the box. He looked up to ask the delivery person who had sent him this, but to his surprise, he didn’t see him anywhere. Well, food was food, and Sanji would kill him if he wasted it. Not that he wouldn’t eat it anyway.

Making his way back to the living room, Ace wondered who the sender could be. He imagined it to be Smoker, but soon burst into laughter. Yeah, right. What would be next? Flowers and a proposal? He shook his head.

For a brief moment, he wondered if he should wait for Marco before eating it. He dismissed the thought. If Marco preferred to work over getting it on with him, it was his loss. Besides, it could be that Luffy was back by then, and there was no way he would share his cake with his gluttonous brother. Having at least the decency to get a fork, he let himself fall on the couch and opened the box.

* * *

Tiredly, Marco pulled up on the empty driveway. Work had taken longer than he had hoped and his back still hurt a lot. Well, at least he had a valid excuse not to have sex with Ace. He hoped they would just watch a movie or something and go to bed. He supposed he could cancel altogether, but he really slept better with a warm body curled up against him. And a good night’s rest was exactly what he needed right now.

Ace hadn’t stayed over for a couple of days. After the training, Marco had dropped Ace off at his own house with the excuse he was really tired, which was true. Still, it had taken until four in the morning before he had fallen asleep, the pain in his back hadn’t made it easier. So he looked forward to have Ace lying close against him, his body radiating warmth.

He sighed. Maybe he should stop being stubborn and just tell Ace about his back. It wasn’t like it happened because he was old or anything… But it would lead to questions of how he was injured and he rather keep in the dark that he had been a fireman. If Ace knew that, it would be easier to make a connection between Marco and _that night_.

Though, Ace had seen him walking with crutches. Marco always feared that Ace would ask about that. He hadn’t until now, perhaps because it seemed like so long ago. Still, it might be better if Ace knew he wasn’t able to do much crazy stuff because of the pain in his spine. It was only fair, he supposed, since Ace had entrusted him with secrets as well. He would just have to hope Ace was okay with it and didn’t leave him for someone more vital.

He rang the doorbell and waited, but nothing happened. He rang again, longer this time. Perhaps Ace had fallen asleep. Still, there was no answer. Groaning, Marco leaned down and looked for the key under the doormat. Ace had told him about that one, as both he and Luffy had a tendency to lose their keys. Opening the door, he listened for an indication someone was home, but it stayed silent.

Entering the living room, he found Ace sleeping on the couch. Apparently, he had been eating some kind of cake, as a piece still clinging to his fork that had ended up on his chest. Marco chuckled and shook his head, picking up the fork and the cake box. It would be nice if they could find some kind of medication that wouldn’t have side effects for his narcolepsy.

He watched the man for a moment. Somehow, it felt like something was off. Ace looked like he was asleep, but he didn’t look like his endearing self. Marco couldn’t place his finger on what was wrong, however. He caressed some hair out of Ace’s face. On a hunch he let his hand slide slower and felt Ace’s pulse. He froze.

Ace’s heartbeat was faint, way slower than someone asleep should have. “Ace!” he called out in panic, softly tapping his cheek in an attempt to wake him. But to no avail. Hurriedly, Marco got out his phone, the device almost slipping out of his hand in his rush to dial the emergency service. He asked for an ambulance, trying to stay calm and keeping his fingers pressed against the soft beating pulse in Ace’s neck. He had no idea what had caused this or what happened to Ace, until his eye caught sight of the cake box. That wouldn’t be the cause, right?

* * *

An annoying beeping sound woke him. Ace tried to turn around to hit his alarm clock, but he couldn’t move. Groaning, he opened his eyes. Why the hell was the room so bright? And why did he feel like he was run over by a steamroller?

He wasn’t in his own room. The tell tale white walls and beeping machines made it obvious where he was. But why was he in the hospital? The last thing he remembered was eating a cake.

He tried to move his arm, but something heavy was blocking it. He turned his head to look, smiling at the sight at a blond mob of hair. Carefully lifting his free arm – careful because of the IV hooked in it – and caressed Marco’s head.

Marco stirred and looked up. Apparently, Ace’s body heat lulled him to sleep no matter what. Still, he was relieved to see Ace awake. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like I’ve been hit by a train.” Ace huffed and let himself fall back in the pillows. “Why the hell am I even here?”

“You were poisoned.”

His eyes widened. “Poisoned?”

Marco stood up brusquely, the chair on which he had been sitting sliding back scraping the floor. “Where the hell did you get that cake?”

“Some guy delivered it.”

Marco blinked at him. “Some guy? You’re telling me you ate something you got from a stranger? Dammit Ace, they teach you this when you’re a kid: don’t take candy from strangers!”

“It was a delivery guy,” Ace pouted. “If I can’t trust the postman, who can I trust?”

Marco sighed tiredly and rubbed his temples. “Did you order it?”

Ace shook his head.

“At what time did it arrive?”

“I don’t know, like eight?”

“And does the postman work at that hour?”

Ace fell silent. He realised Marco was right. Still, it annoyed him. “I’m not a damn kid!”

“Then stop acting like one.”

They became silent for a while. Marco had taken his seat again. He wasn’t really mad at Ace, but he had been worried sick. When the test results came back the doctors had quickly given Ace an antidote, but the waiting had been agonising.

“Marco?”

He looked up hearing the small voice. He didn’t like it when Ace sounded like that.

“Have you called my brother?”

“I tried. He didn’t answer his phone. Would you like me to try again?”

“Please don’t.”

He couldn’t ignore the pleading look Ace gave him and his expression softened. “You don’t want to worry him, do you?”

Ace shook his head, staring at the sheets.

Marco took a deep breath and slid closer, taking his hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

Finally, Ace lifted his gaze from the bed and gave him a beaming smile. Marco brought Ace’s hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. “Just don’t scare me like that again, hm?”

Before Ace could respond, there was a knock on the door and an unknown man entered. He was tall, with long brown hair and a cold expression. Ace visibly tensed, causing Marco sit up straight alertly.

“Mr Portgas?” the man asked gruff. “My name is inspector Onigumo. The hospital reported a suspicious case of poisoning. Please tell me what happened.”

Ace grinned awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “Suspicious? I wouldn’t call it that. It’s my own fault. I was baking a cake and, well, let’s say I’m not queen of the kitchen.”

“You added ethylene glycol to your own cake?” Onigumo asked disbelieving.

Marco wasn’t sure why Ace was lying, but he probably had a good reason. Since the inspector didn’t seem to buy it, he decided to heighten the story. “I keep telling him not to keep the antifreeze next to the sugar.”

Ace looked at him a little confused, but that look soon changed to gratitude when Onigumo said: “So I came all the way down here because you’re stupid?”

Ace shrugged, a grin on his face. “Sorry.”

The inspector sighed and flipped open his notebook. “How about the suspicious guy at your door? Some witnesses described him as broad shouldered, greyish hair, smoking cigars...”

“I don’t know him,” Ace responded with a straight face. “He was lost, so I gave him directions. Nothing suspicious about that.”

Onigumo looked at them doubtful, but was met by two deadpanned stares back. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine then. If you don’t want to report anything, there is nothing I can do. Have a nice evening.” With that, he left.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Ace burst into laughing. “Why on earth would I keep the antifreeze next to the sugar? Better yet, why the hell do you know that ethylene whatever is an ingredient of antifreeze?”

Marco gave him a mysterious stare back, before he became serious again. “For in situations when I have to lie after my boyfriend has been poisoned.”

Ace pouted a little and fiddled with the blanket. “I’m sorry to drag you into this mess.”

“Care to explain what mess exactly?”

Ace sighed and let his head fall back. “It was a set-up by Akainu, I’m sure. The guy who delivered the cake looked exactly like Smoker. The intention was to kill me and have Smoker take the blame. That way he gets kills two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

“Why would he want to get rid of Smoker?” Marco asked with a raised eyebrow.

“’Cause he is the reason I didn’t go to prison.” Ace lowered his eyes. “It’s a pretty good plan. There were enough witnesses, and there aren’t that many people that smoke two cigars at the same time.” He let out a laugh, before continuing more seriously: “Since the trial, everyone knows he and I slept together. So if the plan had succeeded, it would seem to the world that Smoker had killed me out of jealousy, since I’m dating you now. I would be dead, and he would go to jail. The only flaw in the plan–” His eyes went wide. “The only thing Akainu didn’t anticipated was you.”

Marco sighed and caressed Ace’s arm.

Ace rubbed his face with his hand. “I should probably tell Smoker,” he muttered, before looking at Marco. “Could you do me a favour? Could you get my phone?”

Marco gave him a puzzled look. He didn’t really like the idea of Ace calling Smoker. But of course Ace wanted to warn him, and of course he didn’t want Smoker in prison, especially when Smoker was the one who got Ace out. Marco would just have to hope Ace had only feelings of friendship for him.

Pushing aside his jealous thoughts, he reached over to get Ace’s phone. At the same time his own phone rang and he picked up without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Marco! You called! Why? Is Ace okay?” a slightly worried voice of Luffy sounded at the other end of the line.

“He is fine,” Marco reassured him, looking at Ace.

“Is that Luffy?” Ace mouthed and when Marco nodded, he reached for Marco’s phone. Marco handed the device over, only to have Ace’s phone pressed in his hands. Apparently, Ace had already dialled Smoker’s number, since a gruff voice suddenly said: “The hell, Ace? I thought you were bothering that blond of yours. Or did he dump you ass already?”

“This is said blond,” Marco said deadpanned.

It stayed silent on the other end of the line for a moment. “I assume you didn’t dump him then,” Smoker said eventually.

“I didn’t.” Marco glanced over at Ace, who looked somewhat uncomfortable. That was to be expected after all. Ace said goodbye to his brother after explaining Marco had only called to say that Ace stayed over at Marco’s place, as he had fallen asleep at that moment. Nothing to worry about. Marco frowned when he saw Ace didn’t bat an eyelid while telling the lie. Apparently, he didn’t have any problems lying in his teeth if it meant protecting the people he loved. Still, Marco hoped he would see through Ace’s lies is they were ever directed to him.

After Ace had hung up, Marco handed him his own phone back. He got up from his chair to give Ace some privacy – he didn’t really like to leave him alone with Smoker on the phone, but he trusted Ace, and Smoker sounded too pissed off to think about sex. Marco could hear him yelling from the other end of the room. Marco wandered into the hallway, to get Ace’s discharge forms, when he saw a familiar figure.

Law raised an eyebrow when he recognised Marco. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Fenwick. Need new stitches already?”

“This time I’m here for Ace.”

“What did he do this time? Dislocated shoulder? Jaw?” Law gave him a searching glance.

“Poisoning.”

Law shook his head. “That guy will eat anything that resembles food. Your back still hurts.”

Marco looked at him a little confused, one, since he didn’t seem worried about Ace at all, and two, since his last remark was a statement and not a question. Before he could say anything, however, Law pulled him into an empty room.

* * *

Finally, they arrived back at Marco’s place. After being manhandled by Law again – though his back felt a little better – and being given a lecture about not overworking himself, Marco had gotten Ace’s discharge papers. Neither of them wanted to stay any longer in a hospital then necessary.

Ever since the calls, Ace had become very quiet. Marco assumed it was because he was tired and, well, because he almost died tonight. Ace didn’t seem too worried about Smoker’s safety, especially now that he was informed and pissed.

Once inside, Ace immediately went upstairs. Marco followed him a little worriedly, though he longed to his bed as well. They undressed in silence before crawling under the covers. Marco had hoped to cuddle up with Ace, since he was sure he would fall asleep right away then, but Ace lay on the opposite side of the bed. Marco was inclined to pull him close, but maybe Ace didn’t like to snuggle up right now. Marco sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for the sleep that wouldn’t come.

He was certain Ace was already fast asleep when he suddenly heard a stifled snuffle. Marco frowned. He assumed he heard it wrong when the sound was repeated. Ace was crying.

Rage filling him for anyone who would make Ace upset, Marco stretched out his hand and caressed Ace’s back. Ace pulled away slightly. Marco lifted himself up a little. “Ace,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

The covers were pulled over the head of black hair. Marco sighed again – ignoring how cute the action was – and grabbed Ace’s shoulder, forcing him to turn around. Even if he was expecting an upset face, he still was taken aback by the tear streaked cheeks. Carefully, he caressed the wet face. “Ace,” he mumbled.

Ace tried to hide his face again, but Marco didn’t allow it, pulling him close. “What’s wrong?” he asked, even if he had a fairly good idea. Ace’s shoulders shook in his hold. Marco caressed his hair, whispering soothing words in his ear.

Finally, Ace calmed down a little. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and said: “Things are just so messed up right now. It was okay when that bastard just tried to kill _me_. But now he is going after the people I care about. I don’t want to drag you down with me. What if he goes after Luffy? Or you? I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt because of me…”

Marco grabbed Ace’s chin, forcing him to look up. “No one is going to hurt me. And no one will ever hurt you again. I’ll kill everyone who makes you cry.”

Despite his tears, Ace laughed. “I’m glad I’m on your good side.” He allowed Marco to kiss him, before snuggling up against him. Soon, Ace fell asleep.

Marco smiled a little and absent-mindedly, he caressed Ace’s back. The last though he had before sleep took over, was that that delivery man was going to pay.

* * *

The unlicensed car hardly came to a stop before a bound and gagged man was thrown out of it in front of the police station. The man, already unconscious, landed on the sidewalk with a loud thud. One might think he looked a little like a certain police captain. A few officers came running outside, but the vehicle already sped off, with three masked figures inside.

* * *

Ace woke up from the sound of a key turning in the lock. “Marco?” he called out groggily, rubbing his eyes. Marco had made him call in sick today and told him to stay at his place. Ace hadn’t minded, he hardly was awake enough that morning to make the phone call to the fire station.

A familiar blond head of hair peeked around the door. “Did I wake you?”

“It’s fine.” Ace moved the blanked off him and tapped invitingly on the couch next to him. He smiled when Marco sat down.

“It’s nice to see you smile again,” Marco said, pulling him close.

Ace pouted. “Could we please forget my little breakdown? I was just tired. So where were you anyway?” he changed the subject.

Marco smiled and pressed a kiss on his hair. “Just had to deliver a package.”

Ace hummed and wrapped his arms around Marco, shifting a little on the couch. Apparently, he hadn’t put away the remote control after he had watched television earlier, as the TV suddenly switched on after his movement. The screen showed a news item. “…The police has no idea who has made their job easier by dropping the known drug dealer off at the police station,” the news reporter told them in a voice over. “Impersonating a police officer has now been added to the charge.” A picture of a man with greenish grey hair was shown.

Ace’s eyes went wide. “T-That’s him! That’s the guy who brought the cake. I told you he looked like Smokey!”

Marco hummed thoughtfully. “Yes. I suppose he does.”


	15. Chapter 15

Hesitating, Ace was standing in front of the door, afraid to ring the bell. Or rather, afraid of who would open the door. But what choice did he have? He needed advice, and this was the only person who wouldn’t laugh in his face about his problem.

Besides, he knew Marco best.

Heaving a deep sigh, Ace pressed the button next to the door. It took a while before someone responded, and Ace was about to leave when the front door was opened.

“Ace, sweetie, what are you doing here?”

He turned back to face Izo, an awkward grin on his face. He just started to doubt his decision anyway. Izo was Marco’s brother. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about the sex life of his family. “You know, it’s not that important.”

But it was too late to turn back now, Izo’s face told him that much. Izo beckoned him inside, and he followed obediently. Izo told him to sit down and then disappeared into the kitchen. Ace let himself fall on the couch. A black piece of fabric was lying beside him. Curiously, he picked it up.

Izo returned from the kitchen with a steaming teapot and two mugs.

“Why do you have a ski mask lying around?” Ace asked. “It’s hot outside.”

Izo took the piece of cloth from his hands. “We all have our kinks. Now, tell me what the problem is,” he ordered while sitting down.

Ace took one of the filled mugs and looked away. “Who says there’s a problem?”

Izo rolled his eyes and gave Ace a piercing look that said he wasn’t in the mood for nonsense. Ace swallowed hard, taking a sip of his tea, before glancing hesitantly over to Izo. Izo was wearing his trademark purple kimono and geisha make-up, despite the early hour.

“I… have a problem. With Marco,” he said carefully.

Izo stared at him. Eventually, he sighed. “What did you do?”

“What?!” Ace would later deny that his voice broke. “What makes you think I did something?”

Izo glanced him up and down with a look of ‘isn’t that obvious?’.

Ace sighed. “I didn’t do anything. In fact, I don’t know _what_ to do. You’re Marco’s brother, so I don’t know if you want to talk about this–”

“You need sex advice.”

Ace gave him a weird look. “How did you–” He stopped when Izo gave him _that_ look again.

“Honey, please. Now, talk to me.”

Ace stared at the beverage in his hand. “Well, you said we shouldn’t have sex on our first date. And we didn’t. But we still haven’t, and I don’t know why.”

Izo was about to respond when the door to the living room opened and a yawning Thatch entered. It took a moment for Ace to recognise him. It was the first time Thatch’s hair wasn’t put in a pompadour style, but hung limply on his shoulders. “What’s all the noise? Oh, hey, Ace.”

“Hey,” Ace greeted him. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

“Yeah, I had some… business to attend to. So how are you?”

Ace looked up a little surprised. Something in Thatch’s tone made the question sound less innocent, but he shrugged it off. “I’m fine.”

“Good. So what brings you here?” Thatch made his way to the kitchen, only to come back with a mug. He filled it from the teapot and looked at Ace expectantly.

Ace opened his mouth to answer him, but Izo beat him to it. “Nothing that interests you.”

“I just need some advice,” Ace explained.

Thatch huffed offended. “So you go to him? Unless you want to know how you put on a kimono, I’m just as good as giving advice.”

“Okay, _Dear Thatch_ ,” Izo said mockingly, “please explain to our young friend how he can coax Marco into having sex with him.”

Thatch stared at his brother, blinking, before looking at Ace, who grinned awkwardly. Then Thatch burst out: “Good God, Izo, I didn’t need to know _that_! That’s gross! I’m gonna take a shower. Talk to you later, Ace.” With that, he left the room, the damping mug still in his hand.

“Don’t worry about that,” Izo said soothingly to Ace, who looked a little hurt. “It’s not that he’s homophobic or anything. He just looks up to Marco, sort of like a parent. And no child wants to know about their parents having sex. I mean, you wouldn’t want to know that of your grandfather, right?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ace snorted. “My grandfather doesn’t have sex.”

Izo raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.

So Ace continued: “Anyway, I sorta expected that reaction from you as well. I mean, Marco _is_ your brother.”

“My brother who needs to get laid, yes. I love Marco, and he deserves to be happy.” Izo sipped from his mug. “So, he doesn’t want to have sex with you?”

Ace groaned, placing his forehead against the arm of the couch. “No. And I don’t know why. I mean, when I suggested he couldn’t get it up–”

“Oh, honey, you didn’t!” Izo exclaimed, genuinely shocked. “To his face?”

Ace looked to the floor guiltily.

Izo sighed and shook his head. “Well, you’re still alive, so you must have done something right…”

“I apologised.”

Izo hummed. “That’s good. Okay, so what could be the problem?”

“I was kinda hoping you could tell me.”

“I can’t. Well, not the exact reason. But knowing my brother, he has convinced himself that it’s best not to sleep with you. Maybe he thinks you’re too young for him, or that he’s not good enough…”

“But that’s stupid!” Ace interrupted him. “We’re dating, and I really like him.”

Izo gave him a disapproving look that said that he didn’t like to be interrupted. “Yes, it is stupid. But for some reason Marco doesn’t realise he deserves to be happy. So he convinced himself of some reason not to sleep with you. Which is exactly why you should.”

“But how?” Ace whined.

Izo raised a finger, holding it so close to the freckled face Ace had to look cross eyed to see it. “Persistence.”

“Eh, what?”

“Persistence. And you need a lot of it, because Marco has more willpower than the pope.” Izo took another sip of his tea.

“But,” Ace started.

Izo sighed. “There are certain rules you have to obey. When Marco secretly wants something, but doesn’t want to admit it or for whatever reason thinks it’s better not to, he will never say no. He’ll say stuff like: “We better not”, or “I’m tired”. But you have to persevere. Until he says no. Well, you have seen the look he gives when he doesn’t like something. He tries to rip out your soul or something. Hard to miss that. So, when he says no, you back off. But I highly doubt it, since he has the hots for you. Convince him!” Izo looked up, piercing Ace eyes with his gaze. “Nobody deserves happiness like Marco does. And you make him happy. So please,” he bowed, “please seduce my brother!”

* * *

It was going to be perfect. He had arranged to meet Marco that night, and to top it all, Sanji had called to ask if he was still interested for Sanji to cook for him. “Of course I still want to taste your cooking!” he all but screamed into the phone. He was way too excited. Sanji had come over to cook for Luffy two days ago, and Ace had been disappointed he missed it. “I was afraid I missed my chance, since you came over when I was on a date. Which I am tonight as well, so could you cook for Marco and me both? Please?” He tried not to pout, but really, what could be a greater turn on than Sanji’s cooking? Fantastic food and sex afterwards. What could be better?

He was so caught up in his excitement, he almost missed Sanji’s answer. Sanji chuckled. “Sure, no problem.”

He convinced Sanji to come over to Marco’s place, since Luffy would ruin their date certainly, if only by putting Marco off by his eating style. Though Marco didn’t seem to mind his younger brother.

That evening, Ace was clean-shaven and wearing the pants from their first date, since Marco seemed to like them a lot. Tonight he would see them discarded on the floor, if all went according to plan. As soon as his boyfriend opened the door, he flung his arms around his neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Marco seemed surprised, but not unpleasantly so. He returned the kiss, before gently pushing Ace back.

“You might want to go easy. Sanji is already here,” Marco said chuckling.

A smirk appeared on Ace’s face. “Then I better say hello.” He walked on ahead of his boyfriend towards the kitchen. Sanji had his back turned to him, seeming to be completely in his element, chopping vegetables and stirring in a pan every now and then. He didn’t seem to notice Ace, so Ace decided to surprise him. Wrapping his arms around his friend’s slender waist, he exclaimed: “Sanji!” He realised he hadn’t seen Sanji in a while, because he spent all his time with Marco. Feeling a little guilty, he decided he should make up for that. Just not tonight.

He was a little surprised when Sanji tensed up. Now that he thought about it, his friend had sounded a little down on the phone as well. So he let go at took a step back, asking a bit worried: “You okay, sexy?”

“Yeah. You just scared me.”

Ace looked him up and down. Sanji was lying, obviously. He didn’t look that well either. “You seem tired.”

“I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights.”

“Really? Sometimes I wish I couldn’t sleep. But then I would be a narcoleptic with insomnia.” It was a lame joke, but at least he got Sanji to chuckle. “But shouldn’t you go to bed then instead of cooking for us?” Ace continued with a serious face.

“No!” Sanji bit his lip, and quickly said: “I can’t sleep anyway, so I might as well make myself useful. Besides, I promised I’d cook for you, and now I have the time. Now, go enjoy your date.” He pushed both Ace and Marco, who had joined them, out of the kitchen.

Ace was a little worried about his friend. It was somewhat strange that Sanji preferred to cook for him and his date, and therefore hang out with a couple, than to hang out with the guy he had become close friends with – if Zoro’s stories were anything to go by, they hung out pretty much every night. So maybe Sanji wanted to do something different now?

He was startled from his thoughts when Marco demanded his attention, by kissing his cheek. He snickered and pulled his favourite blond with him down on the couch, where his boyfriend buried his nose in his black strands. “You jealous ‘cause I called Sanji sexy?” Ace asked teasing.

Marco hummed in his ear. “Should I be?”

“Nah, I’m not going after him. Couldn’t do that to Zoro.” He burst into laughter seeing Marco’s unamused look. “And maybe there is someone I like better. So don’t tell them about us.” He gestured between himself and Marco.

Marco made a growling sound, before pinning Ace down on the couch and kissing him. Ace laughed, until he noticed Sanji standing by the table, placing plates on the top. He almost glared at the couple, before retreating back into the kitchen. Ace’s smiled turned into a frown. He sighed as Marco moved back to let him sit up. “Something is really bothering him, isn’t there?” he asked softly.

“We can do this at a later time, you know.” Marco kissed his temple.

Ace sighed again. A friend in need always triumphed over sex, even if it was sex with a really hot guy and he was really horny. He got up from the couch. It wasn’t like they would have sex while Sanji was in the kitchen anyway. “I’ll go see if he wants to talk now.”

Marco nodded, and Ace made his way to the kitchen. Sanji was busy and hardly spared him a glance. Ace pushed himself up and sat down on the counter top. “You okay?”

“I told you, I’m just tired. Now, get out of my kitchen.”

But Ace didn’t made an attempt to move. “If you want to talk, we can get out of here.”

Sanji looked up from his chopping board and blue eyes, reminding him a little of Marco’s, met his. “I’m going out of my way to cook for your date, you can at least appreciate that,” Sanji said sharply, but his eyes were soft. “I’m fine, really. Just go enjoy your date, okay? I promise to go to bed early tonight.”

“Okay,” Ace said, giving up and hopping off the counter. “Just remember you can always call me if you want to talk, okay? I know we don’t know each other that long…”

“Yes, yes. Thank you. Now, go entertain your date.” Sanji pushed him out of the kitchen, but not before flashing him a genuine smile.

* * *

The air filled with the most delicious smells when Sanji placed the dish on the table. “Dinner is ready,” he called.

Marco and Ace got up from the couch, where they had been talking, and made their way over to the table. “It looks great,” Marco complimented Sanji.

“And it will taste even better. Now, I placed dessert in the fridge, so you can just… What are you doing?” Sanji interrupted himself when he noticed that neither was listening. Marco had walked over to the cupboard to retrieve another plate, while Ace pushed Sanji down on a chair. Marco placed the piece of crockery in front of the still flabbergasted Sanji, before sitting down himself. While Sanji was in the kitchen, they had decided that Sanji was in need of some cheering up.

“I’m sorry, you were saying?” Marco asked casually.

“Dessert is in the fridge. What are you doing? Isn’t this supposed to be a date?” Sanji asked.

“Now it’s dinner with friends,” Ace answered grinning. “Come on, you made plenty.”

“And that comes from him,” Marco added, and he started loading the plates.

Sanji shot them a grateful look and started eating. Ace asked him about the restaurant and the cook started to tell all about it, visibly cheering up. Marco asked him some questions as well, but when he asked about Sanji’s old man, Ace’s interest perked up.

“What… How do you know Sanji’s dad?”

Sanji raised a curly eyebrow. “You don’t know? Well, it’s not that important anyway, but Marco had dinner at his place once.”

“Eh?” Ace puffed his cheeks offended. “Why would you keep that from me?”

“Because that night– Never mind that,” Marco interrupted himself. “I didn’t know you’d care.”

“That night what? Now you have to tell me,” Ace whined.

The other two exchanged a look. “That’s really up to you,” Sanji said to Marco.

Ace looked from one to the other, hopping in his chair and almost bursting from curiosity. What could have happened that night? A secret kiss? No, in that case Sanji wouldn’t want to tell, would he? Besides, Ace would hate to punch his friend for touching Marco. But what then?

Marco sighed. “Just tell him before he explodes.”

“Well,” Sanji started, taking another bite and swallowing the food, before continuing: “For some reason the old fart refused to believe the restaurant had burned down by arson, so I invited Marco to spell it out for him. And since he had to go out of his way, I offered to make dinner.”

“It really wasn’t a problem,” Marco said.

Ace looked from one to the other. He made a mental note of how cute his favourite blonds were together.

Sanji continued his story: “I didn’t even cook anyway, since the old man kicked me out of the kitchen. Anyhoo, Marco came over and asked about how the investigation was going.”

At this point of the story, Marco seemed to get a little tense, and Ace could already guess where it was going. “So?”

“So I told him there had been an arrest, and apparently, he didn’t know it was you yet.”

Ace burst into laughter. “You were the one to tell him?”

“How was I supposed to know he had a crush on you?” Sanji smirked at Marco.

Marco took an unnecessary long draught of his wine, obviously not amused that they were ganging up on him.

Sanji, however, seemed to be enjoying himself since he continued: “He got silent during dinner, refusing coffee after. But that’s not the worst what happened~”

“Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?” Marco interrupted the story, his eyebrow twitching.

But Ace would have none of that. “Now you have to tell me! What happened? Did he embarrass himself?”

“Well,” Sanji continued grinning, “obviously, he was upset about you, so I invited him to a bar. I left him only for a moment to talk to some lovely ladies…”

Ace feared that if his grin grew even more, his face would split in half. “Don’t tell me… You got drunk?”

“I had to take him home,” Sanji laughed.

Marco looked completely mortified now, so Ace got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “You’re so cute, you know that?” He kissed him on his hair. Then he looked at Sanji and bowed his head. “Thank you for looking out for him.”

Sanji smiled at him and took a sip of his wine. “Don’t mention it.”

They finished dinner while continuing their conversation. Marco seemed to relax again when the subject changed, though Ace made a mental note to keep teasing him about getting drunk.

It was almost nine when Sanji announced he would take off, after having cleaned up the kitchen. When Ace started to protest, he said: “I promised to go to bed early, didn’t I?” He said goodbye to Marco, and Ace followed Sanji into the hall.

“Thanks for making us dinner,” Ace said.

“Thanks for letting me stay,” Sanji responded softly.

Ace grinned at him and waved goodbye, until Sanji had turned the corner. Then he closed the door and leaned against the wood. A smirk appeared on his face. And now for the interesting part.

Marco was already clearing the table when Ace jumped him. He held the plates he was carrying out of Ace’s reach when eager lips met his own. Marco chuckled a little and gently pushed Ace off. “You want dessert?” They hadn’t eaten that yet, since Sanji only made enough for two.

Ace looked his boyfriend up and down. “Yeah, I could go for dessert…”

If Marco understood the innuendo, he didn’t show it, walking past Ace to put the crockery in the kitchen. Ace sighed, brushing his hair out of his face brusquely. Well, Izo had said he had to be persistent…

Marco returned with two plates with what Sanji had called _Eton mess_ – strawberries mixed with pieces of meringue and cream. They ate in silence, though Ace couldn’t resist giving Marco longing glances when he wasn’t looking. Or when he was.

After they finished dessert, Marco brought the dishes to the kitchen, while Ace got their glasses and made his way to the couch. Showtime.

Marco joined him on the couch and took his wine from him. Ace had switched to juice after the first glass, not wanting to fall asleep tonight. He looked at the man sitting next to him. He leaned in, giving Marco a kiss on his cheek. He lingered and as soon as Marco tilted his head a little, he captured his lips. Marco complied, opening his mouth when Ace asked for entrance. Ace took the glass from him, placing it safely on the windowsill, before straddling his boyfriend.

_Persistence._

Ace gently bit Marco’s bottom lip, deepening the kiss. His heart was pounding like mad, whether it was from excitement or nerves, he didn’t know. Marco’s arms encircled him, encouraging him to continue. He moved his head, kissing the stubble on his boyfriend’s chin, before moving to his neck. He heard Marco suck in a breath, and strong hands grabbed his shoulders. “Ace, maybe we should–”

He wasn’t about to let him finish that sentence. Before he could utter what they should, Ace pressed his lips against Marco’s, effectively shutting him up.

This was repeated several times, Marco was starting an excuse of why they should stop, but Ace was having none of that. Marco hadn’t said no, and if his body language was anything to go by, he wanted it just as bad as Ace. Though he still wasn’t giving in.

Ace decided it was time for the next step. Kissing and nipping at Marco’s lips, he started to unbutton his boyfriend’s shirt. As soon as more skin was revealed, he let his hands roam it, moving his head to kiss the collarbones. Ace had moved his hand, trailing the large tattoo across his chest. Pleasantly surprised, he noticed Marco letting out a shaky breath. So he liked being touched there. Ace discarded the shirt and tilted his head, using his tongue to caress the coloured skin. Marco swallowed thickly and let his head fall against the back of the couch while Ace worshipped his tattoo by kissing and nipping the skin.

It aroused Ace to no end to have Marco become so undone by his touches. It did make sense he liked to be touched there. After all, his tattoo was sort of his family crest and family was what most important to Marco. For Ace to understand and pay attention to that, would have to be thrilling for him.

Deft fingers grabbed his chin gently, guiding his face back up and he met Marco’s lips again. Pulling back slightly, Ace grabbed the hem of his shirt to take it off, slowing down when he saw the lustful gaze of his lover on him. Fingers trailed his abs. Ace leaned forward again, catching Marco’s lips with his own, while pushing their chests flush together.

Suddenly, he was wondering why it had seemed a good idea to wear the tight pants, as those had proven to be very confiding on their first date. Ace’s plan to seduce was starting to backfire, as he came more and more undone by Marco’s kisses and touches. He didn’t even try to resist when Marco grabbed his hips and pinned him down on the couch for the second time that night.

A large hand ghosted over the obvious bulge in his trousers, causing him to buck his hips involuntarily. He wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck, pulling him close.

The hand brushed his erection again, this time lingering long enough to open up the button and zipper. Ace heaved a sigh in relief, pulling Marco’s lips against his again. He felt his pants being slid off, so he lifted his hips to help. Maybe he should have worn underwear, then his intentions might be a bit less obvious. Oh well.

Marco kissed him again, turning his attention to Ace’s chest. He had noted the last time that Ace had sensitive nipples. Sure enough, when he gently scraped his teeth against one, Ace’s hips jerked involuntarily. Marco looked up. He knew it was a mistake to stare at the body beneath him, but he couldn’t resist. Ace was panting, a thin layer of sweat already covering his skin.

He started kissing the heaving chest again, moving down to Ace’s stomach and experimentally dipping his tongue in Ace’s belly button. The result was beautiful. Ace’s eyes were screwed shut, his back arching, and he let out a moan. It wasn’t really helping Marco’s resolve not to have sex with Ace, because damn, did he want that right now.

Swallowing a few times to get rid of his dry mouth, Marco started kissing Ace’s inner thighs. He was met by all kinds of delicious sounds coming from Ace’s mouth, which only intensified when he gave a lick along his length.

“Hnn… Marco,” Ace breathed.

That encouraged Marco man to take him fully in his mouth. He pinned down the shaking hips, breathing slowly in through his nose. This was quickly becoming a habit, but Ace liked it, and Marco loved the noises Ace produced.

Ace propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at Marco still between his legs. The sight was almost enough to make him come. His fingers digging into the cushions of the couch and holding on for dear life, his head fell back when Marco suddenly swallowed around him. It wasn’t fair. Marco was way too good at this.

Marco looked up at him, and bright blue met dark. Ace watched himself disappear in that wonderful mouth. He couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted Marco, wanted everything of him. “M-Marco,” he managed to stutter.

Marco took that as his cue to swallow him whole. With a loud moan, Ace let his head fall back again, but he couldn’t hold back anymore. His body shuddered with the violence of his orgasm. His arms gave in, and he fell flat on his back.

Marco wiped the excess semen from the corners of his mouth and watched his boyfriend lying panting heavily. Once again, it hit him how beautiful Ace was. Muscles, now all relaxed, build up in just the right amount, flawless skin aside from the tattoo on his arm, cute freckles. He had been staring so intently he hadn’t noticed that dark eyes opening and looking back at him. He almost felt embarrassed for gawking over Ace, when Ace’s face split into a smirk.

In the blink of an eye, he was straddling Marco again, kissing him passionately. “Let me return the favour,” he whispered huskily in his ear.

Every fibre of his being screamed yes, but still he managed to choke out: “Really, Ace, I’m fine.”

Ace made an annoyed sound. “Really now? ‘Cause your little friend seems to disagree.” To emphasise his point, he ground down his hips. Waves of pleasure were send throughout Marco’s body, and he couldn’t suppress the moan forming on his lips.

A smile tugged at Ace’s lips and he kept repeating the motion. After kissing his boyfriend intensely, he said breathily: “We both know how badly you want it. So why don’t you just fuck me?”

Something snapped in Marco’s head. Not just Ace’s movements that were rapidly becoming too much, but Ace would let him top? Images of him moving inside that body, his Ace…

A bit rougher than he intended, he threw Ace’s off him, murmuring something about lube, and making his way up the stairs. He should still have some, right?

Inside his bedroom, he opened the drawer of his nightstand, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. Somehow, he still had lube, and, by some miracle, his condoms weren’t expired yet. How long had it been since he had shared his bed with someone?

Suddenly, rational thoughts took over again from the lust-clouded haze. What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t sleep with Ace! He would never forgive himself for that, and neither would Ace if he ever found out the truth. Though he would already hate him then…

His thoughts were interrupted by two arms encircling him. The hands popped open the button of his pants, pulling it from his hips along with his underwear – which he was wearing, unlike his impatient lover. Light kisses were pressed on his back, and he leaned into the touch, sighing as his erection sprang free. The strong hands took the small bottle and the condoms from his grasp, before retreating.

Marco waited a few seconds to scramble his brain together before turning around. He almost came right there and then.

Ace was lying on his bed, still naked and fully aroused again. He had coated his fingers with lube, his hand now between his legs, moving a finger in and out and his body arching in an obscene way. He opened his eyes, looking at Marco, his pupils blown with arousal.

He lost the battle. His legs moving without his consent, making their way to the bed. Ace smiled, his free arm reaching up invitingly when Marco made to climb on the mattress. Their lips met again and without looking, Marco coated his own fingers with lube, pressing into the willing body along with Ace’s own. Ace moaned into the kiss.

He was so hot inside. Ace removed his own finger and let Marco completely take over. Marco added a third digit, curling his fingers and, if Ace’s hip jerking was anything to go by, he had found the right spot. He repeated the motion, and Ace answered him by biting Marco’s lower lip.

Marco took a moment to appreciate the amazing sight he was treated on. Ace’s freckled cheeks were flushed. His jaw was slack and every once in a while, when Marco hit the sensitive spot with his fingers, Ace’s body jerked involuntarily. He could look at him all day, completely tousled and a shuddering mess.

“Marco…”

The husky sound was sent straight to his groin. The last blood in his brain rushed south, every coherent thought dying with it. He grabbed Ace’s head, smashing their lips together. He was completely, utterly in love with this man.

Something cold and slick made contact with his erection, and his hips jerked, until he realised what it was. Ace slipped the condom around him without breaking the kiss, before applying some more lube. Their lips still sealed together, Marco moved on top of Ace, his fingers slipping out of him, and pushed him against the mattress. He positioned himself between the muscular legs, pushing into the body slowly.

Ace was so tight. He gritted his teeth, pressing in further slowly, until he was completely sheathed. He swallowed a few times, trying to get his breathing under control. He looked at the man lying beneath him. Ace’s eyes were screwed shut. Marco’s face softened, and he brushed a strand of hair out of the fire fighter’s face. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

Ace’s eyelids fluttered open, his eyes moist with tears. “Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “It’s just… It’s been a while.”

Marco kissed him again, refusing to move until Ace’s hips jerked a little, giving him permission to start.

He started slowly, savouring every small expression of pleasure Ace gave him. He had dreamed about this for so long, and now, to have Ace lying beneath him, so willing… He focused on his lover again, determined to give him the night of his life. He would make Ace forget all his previous lovers, only coming back for more to him… He sped up his pace as soon as Ace was ready, his boyfriend’s moans becoming louder and louder.

Ace was by far the most vocal lover he had ever had, but Marco would be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on. And it made his job easier, since he instantly knew when he had found the right spot. Ace practically screamed before pulling him into a kiss.

Marco was too preoccupied to notice the pain at first. It must have slowly built up, but Marco was too busy trying to pleasure Ace – something that went fairly well, judging by the moans and needy whimpers – that he was caught off guard by the stab of pain in his lower back. He missed a thrust in his rhythm, which Ace noticed and slowly opened his eyes. Marco gave him a reassuring kiss and tried to continue his pace.

Suddenly, it felt like someone tried to cut his spine with an axe. He cursed loudly, not being able to move anymore. What the hell was happening to him?

Ace had snapped out his blissful haze, looking up at Marco worriedly. His hips moved involuntarily, his body still being in need to release. He didn’t understand what was going on, neither of them had come yet, he would have noticed that. Pain was written over his boyfriend’s face. “Marco,” he stammered.

Marco was mortified. Was this some kind of punishment because he wanted to be with the person he loved? Jaw set, he pulled out of Ace and somehow managed to lie down on his back, his face turned away from Ace.

Ace sat up. He was still aroused, but even in this state, he knew something was obviously wrong. “Marco,” he repeated, though he couldn’t resist licking Marco’s ear needy. “What’s going on?”

What worried him most was how Marco was refusing to look at him. He closed his eyes, trying really hard not to take measures into his own hand, so to speak.

He crawled against Marco, whispering softly: “What’s wrong?” His hand slipped underneath the blanket and found that his boyfriend was still half-hard. So if that wasn’t the problem, what was? He moved his hand up and down, earning soft pants, though Marco kept his hips still.

“I-I can’t move,” Marco brought out. It took a lot of willpower not to thrust his hips up, but somehow he managed. He wondered why Ace even bothered after what happened, but Ace pressed his lips against his, pushing his tongue inside his mouth. The actions got him back to a state of arousal in no time.

Ace moved his face to his ear and whispered breathily: “Then let me do the work.” Before he could protest, Ace was straddling him, slowly lowering his body. Briefly, Marco wondered whether this was a good idea, but one glance at the flustered Ace towering over him was enough to make all rational thought disappear. He grabbed Ace’s hips, carefully guiding him down.

When he was fully sheathed, Ace sighed and waited a moment. Marco watched him through half-lidded eyes, how Ace placed his hands on top of his chest to use as balance. Then Ace rolled his hips experimentally, and both men moaned simultaneously. Ace started moving in a rhythm, faster than Marco’s pace had been, but he was getting desperate.

Marco was having a hard time not to meet Ace’s thrusts, it felt wrong to lie just like that. But every movement he made caused him pain. He pretended it was like getting a blowjob, keeping his hips perfectly still. But that didn’t mean his hands were. As soon as he felt something moist dripping on his stomach, he wrapped his fingers around Ace’s leaking erection, stroking up and down. He watched Ace intently, his other hand grabbing his hip and pulling him forward.

Ace screamed Marco’s name as he came, throwing his head back. Hearing his name and merely looking at Ace having an orgasm was enough to do Marco in as well, the tightening around his cock only adding to that. He grabbed onto Ace’s thighs, closing his eyes as waves of pleasure washed over him – a welcome change from the pain.

When he came down from his high, Ace was still straddling him, head thrown back and a smile on his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked down at Marco, giving him the hottest post sex look he had ever seen, before getting up. Marco flinched when his cock, now flaccid, slid out of Ace’s body.

Ace just wanted to flop down on the bed, but remembering how Marco couldn’t move, he carefully peeled off the used condom off Marco and discarded it into the bin. After that, he let himself fall on the bed again, kissing Marco intensely. The sex haze he had been in was now lifted and he thought he should probably clean the both of them up, as he had come over both their stomachs. But he was too tired to get up again, and Marco didn’t comment.

They lay next to each other in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts, when Ace asked: “So, are you gonna explain what is going on?”


	16. Chapter 16

“So, are you gonna explain what is going on?”

Ace’s question hung thickly in the air, and Marco’s heart was beating so hard, he was sure it would pound out of his chest. This was it. There was no way he could talk his way out of this one. Why didn’t Ace’s narcolepsy kick in when it would suit him?

He immediately hated himself for thinking like that. He should take responsibility. It had to come out sometime. After all, he had just done what he swore he wouldn’t: he had slept with Ace. Even though he hadn’t been the one initiating it, he had been weak and he broke. Ace was like a forbidden fruit, so tempting…

A hand grabbed his, fingers intertwining, and Marco felt an encouraging squeeze. Taking a deep breath, he turned his head, looking at Ace lying besides him. Ace’s dark eyes were wide in worry. Fuck, Marco had messed up big time. He had been hiding his pain too well, and now for Ace, this was all out of the blue.

Sighing deeply, Marco decided to just start talking. He wouldn’t lie. He hated liars with a passion, so he wouldn’t stoop to their level. Besides, he didn’t deserve Ace anyway. “About a year ago,” he began, staring at the ceiling, “I had an accident.” His voice was hoarse, whether that was from the nerves or the post-coital glow he was still feeling, he didn’t know.

Beside him, Ace shot up. “Oh my God, that’s right! When you started working with us, you were walking with crutches. I forgot…” Slowly, he let himself fall back into the pillow. That seemed like ages ago, though in reality, it was only half a year or so. His eyes flung open when he remembered his first impression of Marco. He had thought Marco had to be _boring_. Boy, was he wrong. Fortunately, he had realised his mistake.

But he had never once wondered why Marco had to use crutches. He hadn’t cared at first, and by the time he had started to notice him, Marco already walked without them. Ace had forgotten all about it. “So, what happened?” he asked in a small voice.

Silence filled the room as Marco tried to find the right words to explain. He could just come clean right there and then, and get it all over with. Ace would storm out and hate him forever. End of story. But there was still the problem with Akainu. There was no way to protect Ace if he never wanted to see Marco again, however good his reason was. So that wouldn’t do. Not yet. Not until Marco had found a way to get rid of the so called business man. And though he refused to lie, there was no reason to tell all details, right?

Taking a deep breath, he said: “Before I became an arson inspector, I was a firefighter.”

“You were what?!” Ace immediately sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me? That means we have even more in common!” He noticed how Marco evaded eye contact and slowly, it dawned on him that it was probably hard to talk about. “Please continue,” he said softly.

“One night, we tried to put out a fire, when I thought I heard a cry coming from inside. I rushed into the building, when some of the pillars collapsed. One of the beams fell onto my lower back. I managed to get out, somehow.” Marco’s voice was monotonous. He didn’t like to recall the memories from that night. It was the night his mission failed, that he was left unable to repay his dept. Well, now he had seemed to find a new way, by protecting Ace, but it didn’t make it any less painful to think about. “According to the doctors, it was a miracle I was alive, much less woke up from the coma I was in. They didn’t believe I would ever be able to walk again. Yet, somehow I did.”

Ace listened in silence. When Marco paused, he dared to ask: “But if you’re healed, why does it hurt now?”

“I never fully recovered. Yes, I didn’t need my crutches anymore, but I’m still not able to run and after an intense aikido training, my back hurts. It was okay, until that car almost hit me, and you pushed me out of the way.”

Ace’s eyes went wide with horror when he realised Marco had landed on his back that night. It must have hurt so much, and still Marco hadn’t said anything about it. “Why the hell didn’t you say something?!”

Marco purposely looked away. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t give me that shit!” Ace was shaking with rage and practically in tears.

Marco sighed. “I guess I didn’t want to look weak, or worry you. I can handle it.”

“Are you some kind of masochist?!”

A mixture of shock and surprise could be read on Marco’s face, when Ace suddenly threw himself on Marco, burying his face in the crook of his lover’s neck. Instinctively, Marco wrapped his arms around his trembling frame. “Ace,” he whispered softly.

“I’m sorry,” Ace muttered. “I wouldn’t have forced you to have sex with me if I’d known… If I’d realised…”

Marco’s features softened and he caressed the black strands. “It’s not your fault. Besides, you didn’t force me. And it’s not like I didn’t enjoy it either.”

Ace looked up and kissed his lips. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

* * *

He woke up with a smile, feeling the warmth of Marco’s body still beside him. They had fallen asleep soon after their conversation – well, he had, in any case. But after Marco revealed something from his past, it did feel like there was an invisible wall broken down, one Ace hadn’t realised was standing between them. Now he felt even closer to Marco, but that also might be because they finally slept together.

“Morning,” he mumbled happily, stretching himself. His body felt more relaxed than it had been in weeks. Yes, sex with Marco was something he wouldn’t mind repeating.

Suddenly, the sleepy haze was lifted, and he sat up. “How are you? Does it still hurt?”

“Could you do me a favour?”

“Sure,” Ace responded, his heart clenching in fear.

Marco pointed at the build-in closet. “In the back are my crutches. Could you get them?”

“Oh my God! I fucked you cripple!”

Marco sighed and caressed his cheek. “It’s not that bad. I just… can’t seem to get up by myself.”

Ace climbed over him, still feeling guilty. He opened the closet, tripping over something on the floor. To keep his balance, he grabbed onto the shelf, ripping it down. Several items fell down, some hitting him in the head. Last of all, a bright orange hat whirled down.

“Fuck! I’m sorry.” He crouched down and picked up the cowboy like hat. “What’s this?”

Marco lifted himself up a little, as much as he could. “Hm? I didn’t know I still had that.”

“How can you not know? It’s awesome!”

Marco let out a laugh. “You think so? I only used it once for a dress-up party.”

Ace placed the hat on his head and walked up to Marco, smiling broadly. “What do you think?”

Somehow, it was oddly fitting for Ace, even if he was still stark naked – or maybe because of that. “If you want it, you can have it.”

“Really? Thanks!” He kissed Marco on his cheek, before he started to clean up the fallen items. After he had placed everything except the hat back on the shelf, he fetched the items Marco had asked for, his crutches.

“Thank you,” Marco said after Ace had handed them over. “Why don’t you go take a shower?”

Ace furrowed his eyebrows. This was obviously a way to get him to leave the room. Marco didn’t want him to see him struggle to get up. Damn pride. But he did get it, so he just nodded, placed the hat on the bed and walked to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, only then did he notice the handles attached to the wall. He hadn’t thought about them earlier, but they must have been hung for Marco to hold onto when he was walking with crutches.

While the hot water hit his back, he let his mind wander to the time he had first met Marco. He had introduced himself, but the first time Marco had said something to him was when he had called Marco drunk. A smile appeared on his face, recalling the conversation. It was when Ace had first realised how much he actually liked Marco. And now they were dating and he could call Marco his boyfriend.

Marco who used to be a firefighter. That fact excited Ace. They had more in common than he had initially thought. Not to mention how Marco hadn’t been afraid to run into a burning building if he thought that someone needed him, even if he had to pay for it by temporarily losing the use of his legs. How on earth could Ace have thought Marco was boring?

Feeling clean enough, he turned off the shower and dried himself off with a towel. Wrapping the fabric around his hips, as his clothes were still downstairs, he left the bathroom. Memories of the previous night made him smile, until he looked into Marco’s bedroom through the door he had left ajar. Marco had managed to get up, but he resembled a baby deer that had stood up for the first time. Feeling guiltily, he made his way downstairs. When he was dressed, he heard the shower running. Sighing, he decided to make breakfast.

* * *

A high beeping noise startled Marco from his thoughts. Why would the smoke detector go off? Carefully, he hoisted himself out of the shower. Opening the door, he was met with the smell of something burned.

“Ace, are you okay?” he called.

Ace appeared at the bottom of the stairs, grinning like he was obviously guilty of something. “Everything's fine. Don’t worry. Say, where do you keep your fire extinguisher…?”

* * *

Marco ended up calling in sick from work. Ace did have to go and left reluctantly, for several reasons. Once again, Marco assured him it wasn’t his fault, and though the mess in the kitchen was, he wasn’t angry about it. Just surprised, really, how on earth someone managed to almost set the house on fire by making oatmeal in the microwave. But he had heard several stories from Luffy and Nami that it was an aberration of Ace’s to set things on fire accidentally. It made him wonder if becoming a firefighter had been the right career choice for Ace. Though he had a feeling like he did know why Ace had taken that job.

Leaning on his crutches, Marco cleaned up the kitchen. He wondered if he could bother Ace’s friend Law once more to fix his back. Or maybe he should see a regular chiropractor.

Unfortunately, he realised near noon, tonight was poker night. He called Izo, who usually arranged the thing, to cancel, but as to be expected, his brother would have none of that, especially when Marco didn’t want to tell the reason. Eventually, after a thorough interrogation by Izo, he confessed he had hurt his back, though he refused to tell how it happened. So they ended up changing location, now the brothers would gather at Marco’s house.

That night only a small group was coming. Ace had come earlier than the agreed time to help Marco put up things. He was really excited. That night, he really was free from work, not on call like last time. So the only thing that could intervene with him beating Marco at poker was his stupid narcolepsy.

Rakuyo arrived first, followed by Thatch. They gave Marco a weird look when they saw him using his crutches again. “What happened to you?” Thatch asked worriedly.

“I hurt myself. It’s not a big deal,” Marco answered hastily. Fortunately, his brothers knew him well enough not to keep asking questions and left it at that.

Marco went to the kitchen to get drinks, and Ace followed him closely. He still felt guilty for hurting Marco and tried to help as much as he could, but only ended up being in Marco’s way.

Marco sighed and grabbed Ace’s chin. “Will you stop it? It’s not your fault.”

“But…” Ace whined, but at that moment, Izo and Haruta entered the kitchen, having just arrived and Ace’s jaw snapped shut.

“My, you weren’t kidding when you said you hurt yourself,” Izo said. A smirk appeared on his make-up covered face. “So I assume last night was a success?”

Both Marco and Ace froze simultaneously, the latter feeling rather uncomfortable. He had expected Izo to be a little more discrete, but apparently teasing his brother was more fun.

The look of horror spoke volumes, because the smirk on Izo’s face grew even more, if possible.

“Success with what?” Haruta asked, looking from one to the other.

Though Ace tried to bring across a message screaming ‘no’ telepathically, Izo ignored him and said: “Well, let’s just say that our big brother has finally gotten out of his dry spell~”

Marco seemed to finally snap out of his frozen state. “Dammit Izo, think of Haruta.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Haruta flung back. “I’m not a little kid anymore. Heck, I’m Ace’s age, and you fuck him.”

Ace looked from one brother to the other, not sure what to do until he saw the hurt look on Marco’s face, like he had just been slapped. Hastily, he pushed Haruta out of the kitchen. “Why don’t you and I have a little talk?”

Sulking, Haruta let himself be led to the couch. Thatch and Rakuyo, who were sitting at the dinner table talking, looked up briefly before returning to their conversation.

Ace sat down next to Haruta and sighed. “Why would you say that?”

“It’s the truth, right?” Haruta shrugged.

“Well, yeah. But Marco is already struggling with our age difference, whatever that may be, so you don’t have to rub his nose in it.”

Haruta snorted and looked away.

Sighing, Ace leaned to the back of the couch. “Come on, I know you adore your big brother.” He had understood as much the night the brothers threw a welcome home party for him. He and Haruta had gotten along pretty well and they had talked about all sorts of things, Marco being one of them. “So, what’s the real problem? You don’t like me?”

Haruta looked away. “Of course I do.”

“Then what? The age thing?”

Haruta sighed. “Well yeah, it’s a little weird that my brother is dating someone half his age, who happens to be my age–”

Ace did a quick sum in his head. “So, he’s forty four?”

“Will you focus?” Haruta hit him over the head with his hand. “But that’s not… I mean, if you make him happy. But…”

Ace waited patiently until he felt ready to continue. Thatch and Rakuyo were still talking, not minding them, and Izo and Marco still hadn’t left the kitchen.

“But it’s just…” Haruta started. “It’s just that ever since Marco started dating you, he doesn’t have time for me!”

Ace looked surprised. “We’re not dating that long.”

“I know.” Haruta bit his lip. “And it’s not like you’re his first boyfriend either. But it was never like this… It’s like he's forgotten about us. He’s only spending time with you.” He leaned with his elbows on his knees. “Marco… He’s like our second dad, even if he’s not the eldest. He always took care of us if Pops was too busy.”

Ace listened quietly as Haruta continued: “For me, childhood was difficult. I didn’t feel like I belonged in my own body. It was hard. When I hit puberty, I started taking hormone pills. My brothers were all very supportive, but still I needed to get away. Marco had already moved out so I ended up staying with him for a few months. He helped me through the changes my body made because of the hormones, and he talked to me when I was depressed. He also helped me with my decision to get surgery and go through with the sex change. It wasn't that long ago, just a little while before he had his accident.” Haruta sniffled and wiped his nose. “And now everything has changed. He has forgotten about me. Even before you started dating, he only had eyes for you…”

Ace couldn’t hold back anymore and wrapped his arms around Haruta and pulled him close. “That’s not true. You know how much he talks about you, about his family? Do you know how much he loves you?”

Haruta was silent, but let himself be hugged.

“You should talk to him when you feel like this, you know,” Ace muttered, rocking gently to and fro. “He doesn’t want you to feel like that. I know I don’t know him that long, but I do know that he would do anything for his family.”

Haruta pulled back a little. “You have no idea what he is prepared to do for you either, do you?”

“What are you talking about?” Ace asked confused. “Geez, you guys love to make him sound like a mobster, don’t you?”

Haruta let out a laugh. “He becomes one when you touch the people he loves.” He wiped his eyes. “You’re right about him. I’m sorry I acted like that.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologising to.”

Marco and Izo chose that moment to enter the living room again. Izo was carrying a tray with six beers and some snacks on it while Marco followed him, leaning on his crutches. Ace nudged Haruta, who got up reluctantly.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” he muttered to Marco.

“That’s not how you apologise properly.” Ace pushed Haruta’s head down and mirrored the bow. “Now say it again.”

“I’m sorry,” Haruta said obediently.

Marco caressed his brother’s head. “It’s okay. How are you?”

While the two sat down on the couch to catch up, Ace joined Izo, Thatch and Rakuyo at the table. The latter winked at him for some reason, before he started telling an anecdote of something that happened at his garage.

It was already pretty late when they finally started playing cards, but however he tried, Ace couldn’t beat Marco’s poker face. Not even with his flirtatious looks.

The game came to an end when Ace’s head hit the table, his hand falling open.

Snickering, Thatch and Rakuyo placed the sleeping man on the couch. “Guess we're calling it a night?” the former asked.

“Before I forget.” Izo produced a newspaper from somewhere and pointed at the front page. In the photo, a tied up man was visible, and the headline read: ‘ _Drug dealer arrested after being delivered at the police station by an unknown bounty hunter_ ’.

Marco smirked. “Yes, I saw the news. Still no idea who they were, eh?”

Izo smacked him on the head with the rolled up paper. “It was dangerous, and we could have been caught. You got out of this business a long time ago. Your record is clean. Don’t just throw that away.”

“Are you saying I should have let that bastard run free?” Marco challenged him. “I told you, you didn’t have to help me.”

“Please, when was the last time we shied away from danger?” Thatch laughed. “Lighten up, Izo. If there is someone who has it out for Ace, we gotta stop them. You don’t want anything to happen to him?”

“Of course not.” Izo sighed. “Where would I find a model like that again?”

“I thought I was your model,” Thatch pouted. “How can you compare my handsomeness to him?” He gestured to the sleeping man on the couch.

Izo rolled his eyes, but Haruta started laughing. “Even plastic surgery wouldn’t bring you to his level.”

“What did you say?”

Marco smiled affectionately as Thatch chased after his younger brother and tried to tickle him to death. Then he turned to Rakuyo. “What about the car?”

“Don’t worry, it’s already painted over and ready to be sold,” the garage owner answered.

“What’s painted over?”

All five brothers froze simultaneously, turning around carefully. Ace was sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

Marco was still thinking up an excuse, but fortunately, Rakuyo said: “I just told them about a car I pimped.”

Ace’s eyes started to shine as he made his way over to the table. “You do that too? Do you also do motorcycles? ‘Cause I’ve been thinking of painting mine.” He wiggled in excitement.

Rakuyo laughed, and Marco said with a smirk: “And you still insist you’re not cute.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m not,” he pouted.

Marco smirked again and leaned in, kissing his lips. The brothers made some annoying sounds, varying between whistling and “aw”. Ace pulled back, thoroughly embarrassed.

Haruta started laughing. “You’re so red!”

“Shut up! I’m not!” But he felt his cheeks burn. What the hell? It had been a chaste kiss, they had already been more intimate, for crying out loud! Maybe it was because Marco’s brothers were here as well? Marco’s smirking face didn’t help either.

Izo started to laugh. “You are adorable. I would love to draw you looking like that some day. I’ll have to invite Marco as well~”

“I’m not cute!” He turned to his boyfriend. “Marco! Tell them!”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a picture of you looking like that,” Marco said in a teasing manner.

“You can hang it next to your naked picture of him.” Izo smirked as Marco almost choked on his beer.

Happy he wasn’t the focus of the ridicule anymore, Ace said: “Actually, he has it framed.”

The brothers burst into laughter while Marco’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and Izo cried out: “Marco, you’re such a pervert.”

* * *

Opening the door, a smile appeared on Ace’s face when he recognised Law. “Thanks for coming.” He stepped aside to let his friend in.

“Yeah, yeah. Remind me why again?” Law hung up his coat.

“Because you love me so much.” Seeing the sceptical raised eyebrow, he quickly added: “Marco is in pain, and he said you helped him the last few times. And I would help you out with your drug trial,” Ace added reluctantly.

Law’s lips turned into an unsettling smirk. “That’s more like it. So where’s the patient?”

“I’m here.” Marco hobbled into the hall, leaning on one crutch. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Slowly, he started to ascent the stairs, closely followed by the two younger men.

In his bedroom, Law ordered him to remove his shirt and lie down on his stomach on the bed. “How did this happen, anyway?”

Marco and Ace exchanged a look, but remained silent.

“Well?” Law tapped his foot impatiently. “If you keep doing crazy stuff, you’re bound to break your back someday soon. And even I can’t fix that.”

“It wasn’t crazy,” Ace protested. “How was I supposed to know that fucking me would–” He cut off his sentence when he saw the look on Law’s face.

First Law just blinked, but soon, he snorted with laughter. “He’s like this because he couldn’t keep his hands off you?!”

“I’m right here,” Marco said, his jaw clenched.

Ace shot him an apologetic look and he sighed, waiting until Law had collected himself.

Law cleared his throat, going into professional mode. “Please lie down.” When Marco had done as he asked, the medicine student placed one knee on the mattress, placing a hand on Marco’s lower back and pushing gently. “Does this hurt?”

“No.”

“Well, _this_ is gonna.” With a wicked grin, Law placed his knees on either side of Marco’s hips, grabbing his shoulder and pulling it up. Marco managed to hold back the pained moan that was threatening to leave his lips and winced at the crack he heard.

Ace could do nothing but stare, his mouth gone dry. He knew Marco had to be in pain, so this shouldn’t look so hot, should it? Marco’s back was arched, the muscles of his torso rippling, while Law was practically sitting on Marco’s ass. He swallowed thickly.

As if Law heard his perverted thoughts, he turned around with a piercing stare. “Don’t you dare! This is already your fault, don’t you deny it. No more kinky stuff for you.” And he threw a pillow at the retreating Ace.

Downstairs, Ace turned on the TV, but he was too nervous to pay attention. Would Law’s rough treatment help? Or would it make it worse? Marco told him that Law had worked his magic twice before, and that it had helped a lot. But this time his back was worse since Marco wasn’t able to walk without crutches.

Ace sighed. He just had to have faith in Law.

After what seemed like hours, Law came walking down the stairs. Ace sprang to his feet. “How did it go? Where is Marco? You haven’t killed him, right?”

Law smirked. “If I wanted to do that, I would savour the moment. I gave him a sleeping pill, so he’s not going to do something stupid. Or more likely,” he looked at Ace accusingly, “you won’t.”

Ace pouted. “I told you, it’s not my fault. I didn’t know…”

Law rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don’t expect me to come to your rescue every time. Now…” he pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket. “This is a new medication for narcolepsy.” He handed Ace the bottle.

Ace studied the label, but couldn’t make head or tail of it. Well, maybe these wouldn’t have nasty side effects.

“Take them with every meal and keep me posted about possible side effects.” Law put on his coat. “Oh and Ace? ‘With every meal’ means only three times a day…”

* * *

Ace hadn’t seen much of Marco in the last couple of days. After Law had stopped by, Marco had slept most of the day away, thanks to the drug he had been given. Ace had been threatened not to call upon Law again for the next few weeks, on pain of having his balls cut off with a scalpel. Yes, Law was very visual with his threats. That meant no sex, which was too bad. After the night they spend together, despite his guilt, Ace felt closer to Marco. That also might be because Marco finally shared something about his past that wasn’t about his childhood or the lives of his brothers. Now that Ace thought about it, Marco had been very secretive, or at least hadn’t shared that much. But it was understandable, Ace guessed. The accident mustn’t be pleasant to talk about.

Ace still cursed his inattentiveness. He _knew_ Marco had used crutches when he started working at the fire station, he had even judged him for it. But as soon as those were gone, he had changed his mind and jumped the man. Well, after he had been released from prison.

After Law’s treatment, Marco’s back was a little better, though he still depended on one crutch, especially when climbing or descending the stairs. Because he had taken a sick day, he had fallen behind with his work and had to catch up, having less time to spend with Ace.

It felt weird to Ace how he could miss Marco already after only a few days. And it wasn’t like they didn’t see each other at all, either. They exchanged quick kisses in the fire station and they texted a lot. But it wasn’t the same as actually spending time together. Or lying beneath Marco, for that matter…

He shook his head. No sex fantasies. Not while manoeuvring through traffic on his motorcycle. He had to focus on the task at hand. A few days ago, he had finally found out what was wrong with Sanji the other day. Since Marco was sleeping anyway, Ace had invited Sanji to come with him to a spa, under the pretext of thanking him for cooking, but in reality, it had been one of his master plans to get Sanji and Zoro together. When he had them both naked – except for a towel – in the steam bath, he had planned on leaving, but Sanji had stopped him. Apparently, he soon found out, Luffy was a blabbermouth and had told the chef about Zoro’s feelings for him. The two had become close friends, but this had scared Sanji off. Sanji had been avoiding Zoro until Ace had started to meddle.

So now Ace had to fix things between them. Also, he still had to make up for neglecting his friends ever since he started seeing Marco. He already had an idea how to do that, but he needed help for that.

Answering the door, Vivi didn’t seem to know whether to hug him or slap him in the face. She stared at his grinning face for a moment, before wrapping her arms around him, effectively shoving said face in her ample bosom and almost suffocating him. “You know how much I have worried about you, you idiot?” she sobbed, releasing him and giving him yet a slap in the face.

“I missed you too.” Still, he didn’t stop grinning.

“Getting arrested, almost ending up in jail… Idiot.” She snorted and pulled him inside. “Honestly,” she grumbled, “I don’t hear anything from you in weeks, only to find out you’re in jail and you can’t even come to my wedding.”

“I’m sorry.” He meant it. He would have given anything to have been there – not in the least to see Zoro and Sanji together. But well, if he hadn’t gone to jail, he might have not been dating Marco now. “Where is your husband, anyway?”

“He has a meeting tonight. He should be back in a while.” They sat down on the couch, and Vivi asked about his time in prison.

He told her everything, from his arrest to the trial. She laughed at the part where Marco had confessed he thought Ace was hot. “That man has to be very brave to say that during a trial.”

“He is.” Ace smiled. “Actually, we’re dating now.”

“You have a boyfriend?” Her eyes shone. “Tell me more!”

He scratched the back of his head a little embarrassed, but as he proceeded, he became more enthusiastic.

“I would love to meet him,” Vivi said, when he was finished.

“You should! Actually, that was part of the reason I came here.” When she blinked in confusion, he continued: “Do you still have that beach house?”

She nodded.

“Well, since I’ve been a little distracted lately and may have neglected my friends a little, I though we could all go there this Sunday,” he explained.

“That’s a great idea. The weather predictions were promising for the next few days. So who do you want to invite?”

He counted on his fingers: “Well, you and Kohza, obviously, Marco and Luffy, Zoro…”

“Oh! Are you inviting his boyfriend as well?” she asked happily. “They were such a cute couple.”

“Boyfriend? Zoro doesn’t have a boy–” He smacked his forehead. Obviously, those idiots had never told Vivi they were only pretending to be dating on Vivi’s wedding to throw off Zoro’s cousin Perona. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but Sanji and Zoro never dated.”

“What?!”

If there was something Vivi didn’t like, it was being lied to. Hastily, he tried to calm her down. “Easy now. They had a good reason.”

She huffed annoyed. “Oh, really? And why would they lie to me?”

“Apparently Sanji owed Zoro for some reason and Zoro didn’t want to have to deal with Perona. You know how she is.”

Vivi sighed. “I suppose. Well, I’ll just have to kick their butts on Sunday.”


	17. Chapter 17

Sleeping with Ace had been the biggest mistake he had made up till now. And he realised he had made many mistakes. The first had been rushing into the building that would be the end of his career as firefighter. Of course, that was not counting the night in question, the night he had seen Ace for the first time.

The second was having the beam falling on him. Okay, he realised that that hadn’t been in his power. What he _had_ had a saying in was his transfer to Sabaody to become an arson inspector. He remembered the first day he laid eyes on Ace like it had been yesterday. Could falling in love with Ace be counted as a mistake as well? Next, there was inviting Thatch to pick him up from the fire station. He should just have told his brother to wait in the car or something. If Thatch hadn’t come inside, he wouldn’t have met Ace and befriended him, hence not finding out Marco had a crush on Ace and therefore not dragging Ace to the poker night.

Marco’s umpteenth mistake had been to text Ace after Ace had called him while being drunk. True, he hadn’t been sure at the time it was Ace, but their conversations via texting were definitely where Ace’s interest had started. Then there was his blurting out he thought Ace was hot in court. Marco still had the urge to hit himself when he thought back to that. How could he have been so stupid? He liked to blame Ace’s sly lawyer, but he was the one that fell into her trap.

He had had a chance to restore his mistake when he had brought Ace home after meeting him in the bar. Actually, if he had never gone to that bar in the first place… But in the car, Ace had given him a choice, fuck once and have it over with, or go on a date. If he had gone for the former, he wouldn’t be in this mess. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He would still feel guilty, but at least to Ace it would just have been a one-night stand. No feelings, no complications. But Marco would have wanted more…

Not that his own feelings mattered. But still, he had chosen the latter, to go on a date. Mistake number how many again? Again, at the end of the date he only had one job, to mess it up. But he even couldn’t do that. He had said he wanted a serious relationship. And that was exactly what had happened. He and Ace had a relationship, Ace called Marco his boyfriend. And now they had slept together.

He hadn’t expected his back to fail him like that, but he sure as hell deserved it. Not that it had stopped Ace from pleasuring him. Despite the pain, the sex had been great. He felt closer to Ace than ever before. Shit.

He kept making mistake after mistake. Things couldn’t just go according to plan. The only reason he was still with Ace was to keep him safe until he had gotten rid of Akainu once and for all. But was this really the best way to do it? Sure, he had already saved Ace’s life once from a poisoning attempt, but did they really need to date for him to do that? His brothers were aware of the situation, as was his Pops. There was always someone to keep an eye on Ace. So… it wasn’t really necessary for them to keep dating.

He should… He should break up with Ace. If he did it now, it wouldn’t be too much of a drama. They hadn’t dated that long and had only slept together once. The only problem was his brothers. He knew they wouldn’t accept it without a good reason. So what was a good reason? He could always say the age difference bothered him – ignoring the fact that Ace had never seemed ‘too young’, getting his jokes and all that. It was a lame excuse, but they might buy it.

Marco sighed. Then that was the only thing left to it. He would break up with Ace.

Exiting the court, he wondered how Ace would respond. Marco had just been an expert-witness in an arson trial. It hadn’t had anything to do with the case Ace had been arrested for, an entirely different method had been used to start the fire. The defendant had been sentenced to four years in jail. Marco’s testimony hadn’t really had influence on the judgement; like in Ace’s trial, he only had to explain what happened, not by whom. Though, no unfortunate slips of the tongue this time.

Would Ace throw a fit if Marco broke up with him? He just might if Marco couldn’t come up with something solid. Why wouldn’t he want to be with Ace anymore? After all, Ace would probably throw in his face that this was the thing Marco had wanted in the first place. A relationship. So, the age thing? It did bother him he was so much older than Ace, though more because he just felt old. But if he tried that, Ace would force him to tell how old Marco really was. Well, Marco supposed he could live with that.

So, Ace would hate him for a while. He would get over it. Despite the fact that Marco was Ace’s first real boyfriend. And that they really hit it off. He would be fine. Right?

“Mister Fenwick, what a surprise.”

Marco was startled from his thoughts by a soothing female voice. He was just making his way down the steps, leaning heavily on his crutch. Really, why did these buildings always have steps?

Looking up, he saw the owner of the voice, a tall raven haired woman with piercing blue eyes. He instantly recognised her as Ace’s former lawyer, Robin Nico. She was dressed in a pantsuit, appearing like she was just finished with a trial, much like himself. He nodded to acknowledge her, attempting to continue his journey.

Robin made her way over to him. “How are you, Mr Fenwick? The last time we spoke, you were being used as a pillow by my former client.”

Marco remembered that night all too well. They had met in a bar and after a few beers Ace had crawled into his lap, falling asleep not long after.

Still, he said almost coolly: “I’m fine, Ms Nico.” He didn’t miss her flick of the eye to take him in, lingering on his crutch. “How are you?”

She smiled that mysterious smile of hers. “I’m fine as well.”

A silence fell between them, while they were trying to read each other. “Well, then,” Marco finally said, “I should try to catch my bus.” His condition still didn’t allow him to drive.

“I am finished here, so if you like, I can give you a ride home,” Robin offered.

Marco was intending to decline, as he didn’t feel like spending too much time with the woman that could read his soul, but he just saw his bus driving off, so he sighed and gave in. Still using his crutch to lean on, he followed Robin to her vehicle. She opened the door for him on the passenger side and waited for him to climb in before walking to the other side.

They drove in a – rather uncomfortable – silence for a while, when Robin said: “Mr Fireman told me about your accident. It’s tragic.”

He wondered when they had spoken. He had only revealed that part of his life to Ace recently, so the conversation between Ace and Robin couldn’t have taken place too long ago. How much had Ace shared and how detailed had he been? But knowing Robin, the smallest indication would do.

“You know,” Robin continued, “it is rather a coincidence that you had your accident around the same time as the legendary Phoenix disappeared from the newspapers.”

His head snapped her way so fast the muscles in his neck protested. Robin, however, just smiled politely. But she knew, he was sure of it. He quickly recovered and said: “Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s remarkable.”

“Do you talk to your former clients often?” he asked to change the subject. She could see right through him, he knew that, but fortunately, she decided to indulge him.

“Mr Fireman called me yesterday to have coffee,” she said.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Is he in trouble again?”

“Why would you automatically assume that?” she asked amused.

“You’re a lawyer.”

She chuckled. “That is true. But actually, he invited me for this Sunday.”

“What’s this Sunday?”

“He hasn’t told you?” she asked, a little smile formed on her lips. “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise…” She pulled over before he could say anything. “We’re here, Mr Fenwick.”

* * *

It was Friday night when Ace had finally had the chance to stop by Marco’s house. He was really excited and as soon as Marco opened the door, Ace practically jumped him, smashing their lips together.

Marco chuckled and ruffled his hair.

Ace followed Marco inside the house. He was pleased to see that the crutch was resting in the corner. So Marco was getting better again.

Marco disappeared into the kitchen. He leaned on the counter, struggling to keep his composure. He hadn’t expected Ace to be here. He remembered his decision, to break up with Ace. But he wasn’t ready.

Immediately, he reprimanded himself. It wasn’t that hard. He just had to tell him they couldn’t see each other anymore. Why? Because they were years apart. How many? That didn’t matter.

Taking a deep breath, he took the drinks and walked to the living room. Ace was sitting on the couch, stretching himself and revealing part of his stomach. Marco sighted. This would be easier if Ace wasn’t so damn sexy.

Ace took one of the glasses from him and snuggled up against Marco as soon as he sat down while Marco kissed his hair. He couldn’t do it. Ace looked so happy. Marco remembered the first night they met, how young Ace’s cheeks had been stained with tears. He didn’t want to wipe the smile of Ace’s face. He didn’t want to be the cause of his pain.

He would have to break up with Ace at some point, but he would wait for the right time. Maybe Ace would screw up somehow. Though he couldn’t imagine how. Would Ace cheat on him? His stomach clenched at the thought of that.

“Marco, are you okay?” a worried voice asked.

He looked up, startled from his thought. “Hm? Yeah, sure.” But he still wrapped his arms possessively around Ace. Ace seemed content with that and snuggled closer.

“Ace?”

He looked up.

“What is this Sunday?”

Ace shot up. “Eh? How do you know about that?”

“I bumped into Robin. She said you invited her.”

Ace settled against the back of the couch. “I wanted to invite everyone before I told you, but oh well. Since I haven’t seen my friends that much lately, I have arranged for us all to go to Vivi’s beach house this Sunday.” His eyes glistened with glee.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Your ex-girlfriend Vivi?”

“One of my best friends,” Ace corrected him. “Who I happened to have dated for a while. But she’s married now. And I have you.” He kissed Marco on the lips. “Anyway, we’re gonna have a barbeque and all that.” He looked as happy as a child in a toyshop. “And I was hoping you would join us.”

“Are you sure you want me there? I thought you said this was because you haven’t seen your friends enough lately,” Marco pointed out.

“It is. But also so you can get to know them better. I have hung out with your brothers a lot and I love them, but shouldn’t you love my friends as well?”

He looked very serious, and Marco realised how much Ace cared about his friends.

“Plus,” Ace continued grinning, “I have invited Robin, Franky and Brook as well, so they’re closer to your age.” He studied Marco’s face for any indication about his real age, but Marco gave him nothing. Pouting a little, he asked: “So, you’re coming?”

He couldn’t say no to a face like that. So he caressed Ace’s face and said: “Sure, why not?”

The bright smile Ace gave him was almost enough to blind him.

Ace crawled back to his former position, close to Marco. “So, done anything fun this week?”

“Not really. I had another trial.”

“Did you tell that defendant you thought he was hot as well?” Ace teased.

Marco gave him a deadly glare, but said: “No.” He paused “It was a she.”

Ace snickered.

“What about you? Have you tried the medication Law gave you already?”

Ace sighed a little. “No, I haven’t. I want to show them to Chopper first, just to be sure.”

“You don’t trust your friend.”

“As far as I can throw him. Well, I don’t think he would kill me, not instantly at least, but for all I know they are laxatives or something. Better safe than sorry.” He snickered. “I called Chopper to ask, but I couldn’t pronounce the words right, so I’ll show him on Sunday. Oh, that reminds me, he also gave me some advice for your back.”

Marco looked up. “You told him? Really Ace, I’m fine. I only use my crutch for going up and down the stairs now, so the beach shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Still, it’s my fault you’re in this mess.”

Marco sighed. “Ace, I told you–”

“And Chopper didn’t suggest anything weird. He said it would be good to have a massage. I even brought oil.” He got a small bottle from his pocket. “Please just let me? It can’t make it worse… that much.”

Again with the pleading look. Marco gave in. “Alright. If you promise to stop feeling guilty.”

Ace got up, grinning again. “You won’t regret it.” Before Marco could even attempt to stand up, Ace had scooped him from the couch, holding him bridal style.

“What… What are you doing?” Marco asked, completely staggered.

“Chopper and Law both advised for you to move as little as possible.”

“It has been a week. I don’t think it’ll help if I start now,” Marco protested.

Ace shrugged. “Doctor’s orders.” He started to ascent the stairs, ignoring Marco’s objections. In Marco’s bedroom, he carefully placed him on the bed. Marco was starting to get flustered – and a little annoyed – by the way he was treated like glass.

Ace got the massage oil out and told Marco to take off his shirt. As Marco started to unbutton, he noticed Ace looking at the exposed skin. It thrilled him that Ace looked at him like that. He allowed Ace to touch him, trailing his tattoo with his fingers, before he said with a smirk: “Weren’t you going to massage my back?”

Ace looked up like Marco had broken his concentration and grinned a little embarrassed. “Right. Not my fault you’re so hot.”

Marco shook his head and lay down on his stomach on the bed. Ace covered his hands in oil, rubbing them together to warm the liquid. He placed his knees on either side of Marco’s body, touching the tanned skin of his back gently. He felt Marco relax beneath his hands and started to mould his shoulders. “Geez Marco, how tense are you?” he asked, feeling the knots in the muscles.

 _You have no idea_ , Marco thought. But he kept silent, opting for enjoying Ace’s strong hands working their magic and ignoring that Ace was supposed to pay attention only to his lower back. Every once in a while, a soft moan escaped his lips, and Ace apparently decided it would be fun to try and extract as many as he could.

Rubbing and moulding Marco’s back, Ace had to admit he enjoyed himself. Marco wasn’t very vocal, so every whimper, no matter how soft, felt like a victory. Marco had been quiet for a while now, so he asked: “Is this okay?”

The only sound he was met with was a soft snore. Ace couldn’t help but chuckle. Marco had fallen asleep. It must have been the other way around a dozen times, with Ace having a narcoleptic attack. Ace had never seen Marco asleep, as he had a talent of waking up before Ace did and falling asleep after.

Ace lay down next to Marco, admiring his relaxed features. After that, Ace pulled off his shorts and curled up against him, soon falling asleep as well.

* * *

Sunday morning, Ace was busy arranging the final details of his plan. The most important one was inviting Sanji. He had purposely waited with that, so Sanji didn’t have the chance to change his mind. Ace managed to persuade Sanji into coming by threatening to handle the barbeque and, the decisive factor, tempting him with Robin, Nami and Vivi in bathing suits. It was too easy.

After that, he packed his things together. Others would take care of the food, as food was never safe in the house of the D-brothers, so after packing his swimming trunks and getting a towel, he was pretty much set.

Luffy was more hyperactive than usual, bouncing around, excited about seeing all his friends again. Franky, Robin’s husband, would pick them all up in his van. When the horn honked, Luffy was so fast to get outside that he had barely taken the time to open the door.

Usopp, Brook, Zoro and Chopper had already been picked up. The latter jumped from the van and wrapped his arms around Ace’s waist, sobbing intensely. Ace hadn’t seen Chopper since he had gotten out of jail, only spoke with him on the phone. He returned the hug and complimented him to be on being brave, effectively causing Chopper to let him go to do his happy dance and telling him he wasn’t happy at all.

Zoro watched with an adorable proud big brother look on his face, which prompted Ace to tease him about that. Nami joined them with way too many bags, ordering Zoro to bring them to the van and slapping Brook after he requested to see her panties.

They all entered the van to pick up Marco and, after that, Sanji. Ace jumped from the van, hardly waiting for it to come to a stop when Franky pulled up before Marco’s house. He hadn’t bothered to put on more than shorts and was wearing Marco’s orange hat. Grinning broadly, he rang the doorbell.

Marco opened the door, wearing his favourite purple jacket and shorts as well. He gave Ace a kiss, tapping the edge of his hat teasingly.

Ace pulled him into the van, where he introduced Marco to Chopper.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Chopper chirped. “How is your back?”

“What’s with your back?” Luffy piped up.

“I hurt it. It’s fine now though,” Marco said quickly to reassure everyone. In the front mirror, Ace could see Robin’s knowing smile. He quickly turned back and snuggled up against Marco, who wrapped his arm around him.

The last person to enter the van was Sanji. He had made some salads, at which Luffy pulled a face and had to be reassured that there would also be meat.

The ride to the beach was rather lively. Usopp laughed at the pink Hawaiian shirt Sanji was wearing, at which Franky said the shirt looked ‘SUPER’. Chopper was introduced to Sanji as well, before Sanji asked when Vivi would join them.

“She and her husband will meet us at the beach house,” Ace explained.

“And he’s okay with you coming?” Zoro joined in.

“I guess not, he doesn’t seem to like me. Then again, he doesn’t seem to like any man around Vivi, so it doesn’t really matter I’m her ex. Besides, Marco’s here and he’s cool with it. Right, handsome?” Ace caressed Marco’s leg.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “As long as you behave yourself.”

Ace pouted a little, but smiled when Marco pulled him closer. He had noticed Marco was a little possessive about him. He couldn’t say he minded.

Everyone chatted about all kinds of things for the rest of the ride, though Ace noticed Sanji avoided making eye contact with Zoro. The tension was partly resolved when the latter insulted Sanji, the two of them falling back in their usual banter. Still, things between them weren’t back to normal yet, so Ace decided to distract them. “Hey Marco, have you already told them how you made Zoro fall on his ass?” he said with a grin.

Yesterday, Ace had invited Zoro over to hang with him and Marco. He had wanted to do that sooner, but Zoro had refused to hang out with a couple and ran off to Sanji. But then Sanji had started to shut Zoro out, so he didn’t have that excuse anymore. Ace had to promise to tone it down with the couple stuff and to have a lot of beer for Zoro to accept his invitation. Zoro had enjoyed himself though, especially after they started talking about martial arts. Zoro had stated that aikido was good for girls and old men, because no strength was needed, but aikidoka could never beat a kendoka. Marco had smiled at that and asked if Zoro wanted to put it to the test. Zoro had brought wooden swords, as he wanted to train after his visit. It hadn’t taken long before Marco had made Zoro fall down, proving Zoro wrong.

“You beat Zoro? But he is really strong!” In less than a second, Luffy squeezed himself in the opposite seat, almost squishing Chopper and causing Franky to yell to wear his “SUPER” seatbelt.

Marco smiled a little. “I practice aikido, which uses the opponent’s strength against himself. You don’t have to be strong for it,” he explained, smirking at Zoro, before continuing more seriously: “That reminds me, in my dojo I also train a kid’s class. I heard a children’s kendo class is looking for a teacher. If you’re interested.”

“How oddly fitting for you,” Ace smiled.

Zoro grinned back. “Sure, I’m interested,” he said to Marco. “Business is slow lately, so I have enough spare time.”

“It doesn’t pay a lot,” Marco warned him. “And it’s a class for six to eight years old, if you can put up with that. But if you like, I’ll recommend you.”

Zoro nodded happily, and they exchanged phone numbers.

* * *

The moment they stepped out of the van, Vivi came running towards them, followed by Kohza. She hugged Ace, before turning to Marco, excitedly introducing herself. Marco politely answered her questions. She said they should talk more later and started to introduce herself to the others she had never met before. Eventually, she turned to Zoro and Sanji and called them out for making a fool out of her by pretending to be dating. After she was done yelling and they had apologised, they started unloading the van. Vivi and Kohza gave them a tour around the beach house, and the women disappeared upstairs to change, while the men occupied the living room.

When Marco took off his shirt, Franky whistled. “That’s some nice tattoo, bro. What does it depict?”

“It’s kind of our family crest,” Marco explained. Then he smirked. “Or actually, our jolly roger.”

He immediately had the attention of the youngest members of the group. Luffy and Chopper looked at him, both with glistening eyes. “Are you a pirate?” the former asked. “That is so cool!”

Marco exchanged a look with Ace, who smirked, before turning back to the boys. “Why, you want to join our crew?”

Chopper almost swooned in the prospect, but Luffy said determined: “No way. I wanna be captain of my own crew and I’ll be the best pirate ever. No… I’ll be king of the pirates!” He laughed loudly, while Chopper did nothing to hide his admiration.

“Have I told you about the time _I_ was king of the pirates?” Usopp chipped in. The attention turned away from Marco, who just laughed and continued changing.

* * *

The day turned out to be more fun than Marco had anticipated. He chatted with Chopper for a while, explaining his accident and calming him down when he started to call for a doctor when Marco told him how a beam fell on him. While telling the story, Marco tried to ignore Robin’s presence, of whom, though she had a book in her lap, he was sure heard everything and could read his mind in the best case scenario and his soul in the worst.

He ended up talking to her anyway, when Chopper mentioned he should study for a test. Robin was a pleasant conversational partner, as long as he steered the topic away from him and his past. Especially after Ace lay down next to him.

“Zoooooooooroooooooooooooo!” Luffy came running towards Zoro, who had been training close by. Luffy was holding a ball. “Let’s play volleyball! You and I are team captains! Let’s see, I pick Ace and Sanji and–”

“Whoa, whoa!” Ace got up and put his hand before his brother’s mouth. “I’m fine with playing, but you’ll have to pick in turn, to make the teams equal.”

Luffy nodded, so Ace lifted his hand. “Then I pick Ace,” Luffy grinned.

After some banter, Sanji joined Zoro’s team. Ace turned to Marco. “Are you playing too?”

“Not now. You kids have fun.” Usually, he was pretty good at volleyball, as he and his brothers used to play it often, but with his back hurt and all, he didn’t want to risk it. Ace looked a bit disappointed, but he understood and didn’t press any further.

In the end, Luffy’s team consisted of him, Ace and Usopp, and Zoro’s team of Zoro, Sanji and Chopper. First, they agreed on the rules. Fortunately, Robin knew the official rules of beach-volleyball. They would play one set of twenty-one points. Every seven points they would change court, so no one would have an advantage from sun or wind. The set could only be won with a two-point advantage.

The teams took their positions. They asked Robin to be referee, because, according to Luffy, it was like she had eyes on all sides of her head. Sanji served first. Ace passed it to Luffy on the other side of the net, who spiked it back to the other side.

Marco lazily watched them play. Apparently, Zoro and Sanji formed an amazing team and they scored the first point and many after that.

When the team of Zoro had twenty points against nineteen from Luffy’s, Nami suddenly shrieked, having hogged Usopp’s metal detector, the reason the long nosed man had agreed to join the volleyball match. “Usopp, come quick! I found something.”

The architect sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, guys.”

“Oi, we’re in the middle of a game!” Ace yelled after him.

“I know, but she’s scary. Good luck.”

Zoro snickered. “Wanna give up? We only need one more point before we win the game.”

“Marco! They’re beating us!” Ace turned to him and pouted.

Marco sighed. “Do you want me to fill in for Usopp?”

Ace nodded happily.

“If it’s okay with the referee.”

Robin thought for a second and then nodded, so Marco took Usopp’s position. He would have to end it quickly, and Ace would better make up for it.

Zoro snorted. “Whatever. There’s no way you can win anymore.”

Marco served. Zoro jumped onto Sanji’s leg and hit the ball back to the other field. It looked like it would hit the floor, but at the last moment Marco moved and passed the ball to Ace. Ace launched it upwards. In less than a second, Marco was with him and spiked the ball to the other field. Zoro and Sanji both went for the ball, but bumped into each other and both fell to the floor while the ball fell into the sand.

Robin whistled and pointed to Luffy’s team.

“That’s twenty,” Ace pointed out.

Both men scrambled to their feet, yelling insults at each other.

“Ehm, guys? We’re starting again,” Ace warned them.

Marco served the next ball, sending it straight for Chopper. With closed eyes, he launched for the ball. He hit, but it didn’t go over the net. Instead of both going for the ball, neither Sanji or Zoro moved, the first being distracted by a girl that walked past, until the ball fell in the sand again.

“That was so much closer to you!”

“Like hell, you should have had that!”

“Twenty-one for Luffy’s team now,” Robin said calmly. “If they score now, they win the match.”

They all stood ready as Marco served again. Sanji passed to Chopper, and Chopper to Zoro, who spiked the ball over the net. Ace stood ready, bumping to Luffy. Luffy nodded to Marco. Marco launched forwards, smashing the ball over the net. Zoro, Sanji and Chopper all ran towards it. They tripped over each other, tumbling down in a jumble of limbs. The ball fell down on Zoro’s head and rolled to the ground.

Robin blew her whistle. “Team Luffy wins.”

Luffy laughed, and Ace launched himself at Marco, who stumbled a few paces back to brace the impact. He put Ace down and let him away by his hand.

“Were are we going?” Ace asked chuckling.

Marco smiled slightly. “I’m claiming my prize.”

Ace’s grin almost split his face and, suddenly, he was the one leading Marco. He pulled Marco towards the dunes. As soon as they were alone, Ace grabbed the back of Marco’s head and pressed their lips together. “So,” he murmured in Marco’s ear, “what did you have in mind?”

Marco let Ace’s lips wander his face and neck. “I’m open to suggestions.”

The words had barely left his mouth, when Ace dropped down on his knees, wickedly grinning up to him. The thought of what was about to happen, in addition to the smirk on Ace’s face, made his blood rush south. He extended a hand and caressed Ace’s face. “That’s okay. I’m–”

“Fine?” Ace finished his sentence all but purring. “I know. But I’m about to make you feel even better.” He caressed the bulge in Marco’s light blue swimming trunks with his nose, before giving it a teasing lick through the fabric.

Marco knew he had to stop Ace, but that was a hard thing to do with a shortage of blood in his brain. Ace hooked his fingers around the waistband of the trunks and started to pull it down slowly and teasingly, until they dropped in the sand.

Ace looked up to Marco and was met by blue eyes, dark with lust. Without breaking eye contact, he let his hands slide up Marco’s thighs, drawing a gasp from Marco. He had given head often enough to know what to do, but what excited him most was that Marco finally let Ace please him. Never lowering his eyes, Ace leaned in and gave Marco’s waiting member experimental lick. Then he closed his eyes, taking in as much as he could.

Marco threw his head back, his fingers entangling with Ace’s black strands. He tried not to think about how Ace had gotten so talented. Right now, Ace was doing this just to please him.

Ace’s hands rested on Marco’s hips, not really doing anything because Marco already had an iron control over his body. Ace licked the entire length, sucking on the tip before tilting his head a little. His eyes fluttered open.

Ace almost choked.

A few yard away from them, behind Marco, Sanji was standing, his visible eye wide with shock. He stood rooted to the spot. Ace made a snorting sound in an attempt to hold back his laughter. Marco’s head snapped up, but Ace continued his movements, both to please Marco and to pretend for Sanji that he hadn’t seen him.

Finally, Sanji turned around and ran off. Amused, Ace bobbed his head up and down, reaching between Marco’s legs and gently cupping his balls. He heard Marco suck in a sharp breath.

His jaw was getting sore, so he took in as much as he could, his nose buried in Marco’s curls and let out a long moan. That worked.

Marco doubled over, holding on to Ace’s head when he came, cursing softly.

Ace swallowed and wiped his mouth with a grin while Marco tried to catch his breath. Ace hoisted up Marco’s swimming trunks, standing up himself. Marco grabbed the back of his head and kissed him intensely, still breathing heavily.

Ace snickered. “Enjoyed yourself?” he asked teasingly.

“You need to ask?”

Ace laughed again. “Not really. And you weren’t the only one enjoying the show.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. He was almost afraid to ask. At some point, he had thought he felt another presence nearby. So did that mean…? “Please don’t tell me…”

“Yep.” Ace started laughing. “Sanji caught me with your dick in my mouth and had a nice view of you bare ass.”

Marco’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He didn’t care that much that he had been seen naked, but he should have had more will power than having Ace suck him off in broad daylight, dammit!

Ace snorted with laughter. “I’m afraid our chef will be avoiding us for a while.”

* * *

The rest of the day went by quickly. Luffy almost drowned trying to catch a fish for the barbeque, but Sanji saved him. Ace had been right, though, Sanji did his best to avoid both Ace and Marco, a blush staining his cheeks every time they made eye contact. During dinner, there was another incident when Ace accidentally set fire on the barbeque, but fortunately, Marco had quick reflexes and the fire extinguisher was close by. Sanji, however, flipped out, as he had specifically told Ace not to touch anything. Ace had come to Marco for comfort, but later that night Ace and Sanji made up.

With a large group as theirs, the food was gone in no time. They decided to stay the night at the beach, as most of the friends didn’t have to work on Monday, or could come in later.

They were now engaged in a friendly game of poker, with the exception of Sanji, who was strolling the beach by himself, and Luffy and Chopper, who had both fallen asleep on the couch.

Marco and Nami were both cleaning everyone out without batting an eye. They were well matched, and the chips were pretty much equally divided between them.

“Well, I’m SUPER broke,” Franky sighed, throwing down his useless cards, while Nami greedily counted the chips she had won. Franky had been the last one to play, the others cleaned out a long time ago.

Ace started to laugh. “Well, we should have known better than to play with them. Nami will take all money in sight, and Marco has the best poker face.”

“Well, it is between Mr Inspector and Ms Accountant now,” Robin said with a chuckle. She hadn’t played, being the dealer. A while ago, Marco had asked Robin to stop calling him Mr Fenwick, so now she had switched to this nickname.

“Why don’t you make it more interesting?” Ace said with a grin.

“You mean playing for real money?” Nami looked very happy with that prospect. Ace could swear her eyes turned into pound-signs for a moment.

“Don’t fall for it,” Zoro warned Marco. “The witch will squeeze you dry.”

Nami huffed and reminded Zoro of his debt, effectively shutting him up.

“I wasn’t talking about money,” Ace explained. A smirk curved his mouth. “I was talking about clothes.”

The whole room stared blackly at him. Then Nami shrugged. “Okay, what the hell.”

“Yohoho! Now I will finally get to see your panties,” Brook laughed. “I’m sure my skin will melt. Though I’m hardly more than bones as it is! Yohoho!”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?” he asked Nami.

“Sure. Why not? I don’t mind seeing you naked.” Nami smirked almost catlike. “Are you scared I'll beat you?”

“I’m just wondering what’s in it for me,” he answered shrugging. During the game, Nami had several times tried to use her cleavage to distract the other males, but since he was gay, it didn’t work on him.

“If you beat that witch, I’ll do anything you want,” Zoro said firmly.

Marco’s lips curved into a smile. He didn’t know what to do with that right away, but it could come in handy. “Let’s play then.”

While Robin shuffled the cards with practiced ease, both players made sure they each wore the same number of articles of clothing. The loser of the round would remove one piece of clothing and the first one naked lost the game.

Robin dealt the cards. Ace was standing behind Marco, his arms wrapped around his neck and nuzzling his nose into his hair. He was probably more nervous than Marco was.

Zoro smacked Ace’s arm. “Will you stop distracting him? This is my… his only chance of beating that money grabbing hag.”

Ace smirked at his friend. “That debt is really getting to you, eh?”

Zoro grumbled something and focused on the game again. Robin had folded five cards and gestured to Nami to show her hand. Triumphantly, Nami showed her flush. Marco nodded, accepting her victory and taking off his jacket.

Both Ace and Zoro were getting more nervous the more the game progressed. Article after article of clothing were discarded by either party.

Smirking, Marco uncovered his straight flush, having Nami staring at him dumbfounded. She was only wearing her bra and panties now, having caused Brook to swoon as soon as she had taken off her skirt.

Ace laughed. Sanji must be so bummed he wasn’t here right now. “Come on, Nami, show your boobs!” he said a little too excitedly.

“I’m not gonna with all your perverts staring at me. First, all non-gay men turn around.” She folded her arms, not budging. “That includes you, Ace.”

“What did I do?” Muttering, Ace turned around, leaning against the table next to Marco.

Only Zoro, Robin and Vivi were still following the game. The other men were looking at the wall.

Sighing, Nami took off her bra. Marco glanced up. She had nice breasts, he supposed, if you were into that. Though they were nothing compared to Ace’s rock hard abs… Unconsciously, he started to caress said abs. Ace chuckled, no doubt guessing his thoughts. Marco hastily pulled his hand back.

They both only wore their underpants now, so this would be the last round. Robin shuffled the deck again, dealing the cards so fast it appeared she had more than two hands.

Ace squeezed Marco’s shoulder, obediently not turning around. But because of that, he couldn’t see Marco’s hand either. He was starting to regret suggesting strip poker. What if Nami won? She would see Marco naked, and Ace was the only one allowed to see that. Well, and Sanji, but that had been an accident. He had been so sure Marco would win. After all, he never lost poker playing with his brothers. But this was Nami they were talking about. He bit his lip. Nothing left to do but wait.

Robin flipped the last card. She gestured to Marco to show his hand.

He glanced at his cards; he had a good hand, not great, but enough to win. Theoretically.

Slowly, Marco opened his deck, revealing his two aces, three of a kind counting the one in the middle. Robin chuckled at that, before turning to Nami. Nothing could be read of Nami’s face. Just as slow as Marco she opened her hand. A straight.

“Did you win?” Ace asked excitedly.

Zoro’s groan and Vivi’s excited squeal were enough to go by. Zoro let his head fall on the table in defeat. Nami pulled on her shirt with a triumphant smile, and Robin told the men they could turn around again. They stared at the table.

“No way,” Ace said disbelieving. “Marco, you lost!”

“So it would seem,” Marco shrugged.

“No, wait!” Ace watched the cards lying on the table. “He won. Four of a kind is higher than a straight!”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “There are only three aces…”

“Four.” He smirked triumphantly. “You’re forgetting you have me.”

Nami rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t count. Now, time to show the family jewels.”

“No!” Ace exclaimed. “You can’t see them. They’re mine!”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure they’re mine. And this whole thing was your idea in the first place.”

“Yes, but you weren’t supposed to _lose_ ,” Ace whined. “You don’t understand, she’s like a magpie, she’ll take everything that glistered.”

“They’re not actual jewels.” Marco got up. “Just let’s get this over with.”

Nami followed him to another room, leaving Ace devastated behind. When they got back, Nami was a little flushed, but still grinning, while Marco looked bored as always.

Zoro was obviously not happy with Marco’s loss, casting him a glare. Marco shrugged.

The poker game was forgotten when Luffy yelled: “Meat!”, waking up Chopper as well. Some snacks were dug up to satisfy his hunger. After that, some people went to bed.

“Shouldn’t someone go find Sanji?” Ace asked, while Marco pulled him along.

Zoro snorted. “Nah, Curly-brow can take care of himself perfectly fine.”

Ace shrugged and snuggled against Marco.

Soon, it became quiet inside the beach house.


	18. Chapter 18

It took Marco only one glance at Ace for him to say: “No.”

“Ah, come on. What’s wrong with it?” Ace turned around, showing his suit off.

Marco’s eyes lingered for a moment on Ace’s perfect ass, before he said: “There is nothing wrong with the suit. It’s the tie.” He stepped aside to let Ace into the house.

“What’s wrong with my tie?” Ace asked, slightly offended.

“Well, it’s very ugly and doesn’t match you shirt. Besides, that’s not how you tie it.” He started to undo the knot. “Seems like you tried a bowline?”

“A what?”

“A kind of knot. But not for your tie.”

Ace chuckled. “You really know your knots.”

“Come on, I have a tie you can borrow.”

Ace followed Marco upstairs. Marco sat him down on the bed and got several ties out, holding them next to Ace’s shirt to judge.

“I didn’t know you were such a fashion diva,” Ace said with a smirk.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “I’m not, but Izo is. If he says formal, he means it.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Ace whined. “We’re going to look at his art. Nobody is gonna pay attention to me in clothes when there is a drawing of me naked.”

Marco winced a little at that. He really didn’t like the idea of strangers looking at Ace, _his_ Ace, naked. But there was nothing he could do about it. He had tried asking Izo not to display them, but that had only resulted in teasing about his possessiveness. So he had let it go.

However, that didn’t mean he was happy about it. “You’ve never gone to the opening of an art gallery before, have you?”

Ace shook his head and watched how Marco examined the tie he was holding, clearly satisfied, and placed it around Ace’s neck. Marco himself looked really nice – but then again, he always did, especially when he was wearing a suit. With a matching tie.

Marco knelt down in front of him, pulling on the tie around Ace’s neck so that the wide end was slightly lower than the narrow one. “You paying attention?” he asked.

When Ace nodded, Marco started to demonstrate how to tie the tie. He paused for a moment, looking puzzled.

“Forgot how to do it?” Ace teased.

Marco raised his eyebrow. “No, it’s just harder from this side.” He pulled the tie loose and sat down behind Ace on the bed. “That’s better.”

“It sure is,” Ace chuckled.

Marco ignored him. He pushed his arms under Ace’s. “Alright, I’ll teach you a simple knot.”

“You mean there’s more than one way to tie your tie?!”

Marco chuckled. “Of course there are. But this one is really simple. Now, pay attention.”

Ace looked down obediently to what Marco’s hands were doing.

“You put the broad end over the smaller one and then wrap it around it like this.” Marco demonstrated. “Then you repeat the first step.”

Ace nodded.

“After that you pull the wide end up and through the loop around your neck.”

Ace leaned back a little out of reflex – and slightly snuggling against Marco – though, since the tie was around his neck, he pulled that back as well. Marco chuckled in his ear.

“And finally you bring the wide end through the loop around the narrow one, and pull the wide end down. Then you just tighten it. There you go.” Marco got off the bed to admire his handiwork. He gently slid the knot a little further up.

Ace looked down. “You know, I actually might like ties after all.”

“Why’s that?” Marco asked, a little surprised at Ace’s sudden change of heart.

Ace smiled mischievously. “’Cause now I can do this.” He pulled at Marco’s tie, forcing him forward, and kissed his lips.

* * *

Marco parked the car close to the gallery, and Ace couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Sure, he was excited about him being one of the models and it wasn’t like he was shy, but it was the first time he had modelled – even if Izo had insisted he was a natural.

It was very amusing, however, to see Marco trying to hide his obvious annoyance with the situation. Marco didn’t like other people seeing him naked, that much was clear. He didn’t even like people staring at Ace when he was wearing clothes. Ace snickered and grabbed Marco’s hand, pulling him along.

“There’s my model!” Izo welcomed them with open arms, kissing them both on the cheek. Izo was wearing a dark purple kimono with much beautiful patterns embroidered on it. He took a moment to inspect Ace’s outfit, but then nodded. “Well done. Thank you, Marco.”

“What makes you think Marco did this?” Ace puffed his cheeks, clearly offended.

Izo raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, and Marco snickered. “Are you telling me you know how to tie a tie?” the former asked sceptically.

“Yes, I do,” Ace snapped, before adding under his breath, “now.”

Marco smirked, much to Izo’s amusement. “I gave him a quick course.”

Ace started to pout. Marco wrapped his arm around him and kissed his hair.

“Not my fault I’m more talented out of my clothes,” Ace muttered. He had meant the modelling, but when he looked up and saw the faint blush on Marco’s cheeks, he could guess what Marco was thinking. He smirked.

Izo obviously knew what was going on in Marco’s head as well and he exchanged a look with Ace.

Marco glared at them, serving only to heighten their amusement.

Finally, Izo clapped his hands. “Alright, gentlemen, go enjoy my art. I have other guests to greet.” With that, he was off.

Izo was a very popular artist, Ace noticed, as there were already a lot of people present. Some of them he recognised as Marco’s brothers, and he waved at them. Most were strangers, though, and he recognised some models from the paintings. Ace had also invited Luffy, Nami and Zoro, who would all come a bit later. The others couldn’t make it, unfortunately.

Along with Marco, Ace walked up to the people he did know to greet them. Marco somehow managed to get two glasses of champagne and gave one to Ace as they started looking at the art.

They were just looking at a painting of a woman Ace didn’t know, when Luffy and the others arrived, causing the necessary ruckus.

Izo looked disapproving at Luffy’s outfit, because despite Nami having managed to hoist him in a suit, he was still wearing his usual flip-flops and his favourite straw hat. Fortunately, Nami’s long black dress made up for that, and Ace could hear Izo exclaiming how fabulous she looked. Even Zoro was wearing a suit, though he didn’t look too comfortable. Ace ran up to them to greet them, and Marco joined him. When she saw Marco, Nami flustered a little and winked at him.

Izo caught up on that and asked: “So, what’s this?” He gestured between them.

“Nami beat Marco at poker and then she saw him naked,” Luffy said, picking his nose. “Ace, you said there would be food.”

“Over there.” Ace pointed to the table of hors d’oeuvres, and Luffy was off.

Unfortunately for Marco, Izo didn’t leave it at that. “You were beaten at poker?”

“Is nobody surprised at the seeing him naked part?” Nami inquired.

“What would have happened if you had lost?” Izo got out a fan and folded it out. “Would he have seen you naked?”

She nodded.

“Then I’m only curious as why he would agree.” He turned to Marco.

Marco smirked. “I was promised my personal slave.”

Izo looked at Ace with a raised eyebrow, but Ace lifted up his hands defensively. Marco nodded at Zoro, who looked like he really wished he wasn’t there.

But instead of turning to Zoro, Izo placed the fan in front of his mouth, probably to hide his grin. “My… Marco, you’re such a pervert.”

Marco sighed. Leave it to Izo to embarrass him like that. Next to him, he heard Ace chuckle, and Zoro looked somewhat confused. “Laugh all you want, but this was the last time I was beaten at poker.”

“You were beaten at poker?!”

Marco winced. There was only one thing worse than being interrogated by Izo, and that was being interrogated by Thatch. Thatch joined their little group, looking rather pleased.

Nami smirked. “Yes, he’s good, but…”

“You are the one that beat him?” Thatch sunk down on one knee and grabbed her hand. “Please marry me!”

“Dude, she’s dating my brother,” Ace said sharply.

But Nami cocked her head a little. “Are you rich?”

Izo burst into laughter. “Thatch, rich? That’s precious!”

“I see. I’ll have to decline then.” She pried her hand back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to keep my boyfriend from eating everything.” She walked off.

Ace gave Thatch a slap against the chest. “Stop staring at my brother’s girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But that’s one heck of a woman. Gorgeous and able to beat Marco’s poker face…”

“And that’s exactly the reason why she would not go for someone like you. Now, make yourself useful and go serve drinks or something.” Izo dragged his protesting brother away by his ear.

“Sorry about Thatch,” Marco said. Neither Ace nor Zoro looked very happy.

“I’m gonna punch him if he tries something,” Zoro growled. “I don’t care if he’s your family.”

“Don’t worry about it, he needs it sometimes.”

Ace snickered. “Look at you, being all protective of Nami.”

Zoro glared at him.

“The poker thing really goes deep, doesn’t it?” Ace quickly continued.

Marco sighed. “It does. Plus, Thatch is getting a little desperate for female attention.”

“Maybe we should set him up with someone,” Ace mused. “You know any desperate women, Zoro?”

Marco chuckled. “Don’t worry too much about Thatch. He’ll live. If you’ll excuse me, I have to discuss something with Jozu.” He pointed at his other brother, who was standing a few yards away. He gave Ace a quick kiss on the hair and left.

“So,” Ace said. “You wanna check out some art?”

“First I need booze,” Zoro responded. Ace nodded and took a glass of juice from a tray a waiter was carrying, while Zoro captured a bottle of beer. After that, they strolled over to the first painting. Izo was a very talented artist, even Zoro admitted that.

They admired the art in silence for a while, when Ace asked: “So how are things between you and Sanji?”

Zoro looked at him suspiciously. “We’re fine. Why?”

“Can’t I just be curious?” Ace shrugged. But he couldn’t help the grin that was creeping up his face. “Too bad he couldn’t be here tonight.”

“Will you drop it now? We’re friends. That’s all.” Annoyed, Zoro took a sip from his beer.

“Right~ But you could be so much more than that.”

Zoro glared at him.

“Come on, Zoro. I can help you.”

“I told you to drop it,” Zoro snarled, before turning back to the piece of art. Suddenly, his face brightened.

They were standing in front of a drawing of Ace naked. Ace felt a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like Zoro hadn’t seen him naked before…

“You know,” Zoro suddenly said, loud enough for people to hear, “it’s a good drawing, but the way I remember it you looked more flushed and were begging for more…”

Ace’s eyes widened in shock. “You bastard!” he hissed.

Zoro just smirked.

Ace looked over his shoulder. To his horror, Marco was looking at him and started to make his way over.

“Gee, didn’t you tell Marco about that?” Zoro looked at him with triumph written all over his face.

“I hate you so much. Hey there, handsome.” He forced a smile on his face as Marco came to stand next to him.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “You realise you only call me that when you’re trying to distract me from something?”

“Why would I want to distract you?” Ace laughed nervously.

“For instance because you seemed to have forgotten to tell me you slept with your friend.”

Ace squirmed a little. “It’s not what you think! It only happened once! The few weeks my brother was in college, he shared a room with Zoro and the guy was so deep in the closet, that he was lost!”

“I was not lost,” Zoro snapped, probably by force of habit.

Ace ignored him. “I just did him a favour on the night I met him. That’s all. It never happened again.” He looked at Marco pleadingly, but Marco didn’t budge, having his arms crossed in front of his chest. Zoro wasn’t very helpful either, so Ace took drastic measurements. “Izo, help me!” He grabbed Izo, who was just walking past, by his sleeve.

Izo sighed. He obviously had overheard the conversation, because he immediately started to reprimand them: “Do I have to do everything myself? Alright, Marco, don’t you dare to judge, you have your own skeletons in the closet, if I remember correctly. You,” he pointed at Ace, “stop sleeping with people and become friends with them.” Ace hung his head as Izo turned to Zoro. “And you. Just shush.”

It was amazing to see how neither Zoro nor Marco even tried to argue with Izo. Izo smiled satisfied. “Good. Now, go admire my art and wish you were even the tiniest bit as fabulous as I am.” He snapped his fingers, before turning around to greet someone.

“I was not lost,” Zoro muttered again, leaving to find some more booze.

“Are you mad?” Ace looked carefully at Marco.

Marco shook his head and pulled him closer. “No. Just a little surprised really. How many of your friends have you slept with?”

“Not that many,” Ace protested. “I’ve never slept with Law or Nami or Robin or Usopp or Sanji or–” His list was cut short by lips pressing against his. He smiled into the kiss. “So just Zoro and Vivi,” he concluded when Marco let him go. “And you can hardly count Zoro, anyway.”

Marco smiled gently. “I told you, I’m not mad.” Suddenly, he leaned in and whispered in Ace’s ear: “Besides, it doesn’t matter who you slept with before. I won’t allow anyone to touch you from now on. And next time, I’ll make you forget about all your previous encounters.”

Ace stood rooted to the spot and gulped as he heard Marco’s words. Marco chuckled and walked away, like he didn’t just immensely turn Ace on in public.

Ace took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down. Did Marco have any idea what he did to him? Probably, judging from the triumphant grin Marco flashed him. Ace huffed. Well, he wasn’t going to be turned on in an art gallery – Izo’s art gallery nonetheless – so ignoring the fact that he should be careful with alcohol, he grabbed a beer from the tray the waiter passing by was holding and took a large gulp.

After he had calmed down a little, he focused on the art again. There were many drawings of naked people, male and female, all beautifully done. There was also an occasional painting, but Izo seemed to prefer charcoal drawings.

Nami, Luffy and Zoro said goodbye, Luffy with several bumps on his head. Knowing him, there was no reason for Ace to ask what had happened. He saw them off, before returning to the paintings.

Suddenly, he noticed someone standing next to him and he looked up.

Thatch was staring at the painting in front of them, looking a little embarrassed. “Look, I didn’t mean anything by that, you know.” He scratched the back of his head.

Ace snickered. “Is that’s what’s bothering you? Don’t worry about it. Nami’s pretty. Besides, if you annoy her, she’ll knock your lights out. Doesn’t need us for that. And Marco said you hadn’t gotten any in a while,” he added teasingly.

“Tsk, like he’s got the right to speak here. One boyfriend in who knows how long, and it goes to his head already. But,” he hesitated, “she doesn’t happen to have a sister, does she?”

“Actually, she does,” Ace said pensive. “A brown belt karateka who trains in Marco’s dojo.”

Thatch seemed a bit disappointed. “Shit, so Marco knows her?”

Ace burst into laughter. “How is that more of a turn off than the karate thing?”

“What can I say, I like strong women,” Thatch shrugged.

Ace laughed, but then said: “Alright, but if you’re not interested…”

Thatch grabbed the front of his shirt. “Talk to her. _Please_.”

Ace snickered at his desperation. “Alright, alright. I’ll ask Nami if she’s seeing anyone.”

He almost regretted his words when Thatch hugged him, saying: “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”, effectively squeezing the air out of his lungs.

“Can’t breathe,” he managed to bring out.

Thatch let go of him. “Sorry about that. How about I show you something most people don’t see?”

When Ace shot him a sceptic look, he sighed. “I don’t know what you are thinking, but there are more than enough pictures of naked people here already. I meant a part of the exhibition that not many people visit.”

Ace followed Thatch while the latter explained: “The part you were looking at are Izo’s newest drawings and paintings, or some that haven’t been displayed in a few years. But at every exhibition he organises, Izo has a couple of paintings that are his permanent collection.” Thatch led him to the back of the gallery where there were no other people around.

A grin broke through when Ace recognised the models on the paintings. “He always displays paintings of his brothers?”

Thatch snickered. “Yeah, though not always the same. And this time the painting of Pops didn’t fit in here, so Izo was pretty bummed about that. You should ask him sometimes if you want to see it. And you know,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “if you play your cards right, you might end up here as well.”

Ace flushed a little at that. What did that mean, that he should marry Marco? He shook his head. It was too early to think about that. He stood still in front of a painting of Thatch.

“There, ain’t I handsome?” Thatch sighed.

“You think so? I’m already feeling sorry for Nojiko,” Ace teased.

Thatch shot him a deadly look. Ace snickered and turned his attention back to the paintings. He tried to look at all of them, but he was getting really curious about Marco’s. The brothers in the paintings were all painted differently, trying to capture their character. Izo really was an amazing artist.

When Ace felt like he had looked at them long enough to look polite, he turned to the final painting in the row. His jaw dropped.

The painting was large, life size. It showed Marco, shirtless, with his tattoo in plain view. He was probably naked, but his lower body were obscured by light blue flames. One of his arms was stretched out, also covered in those blue flames. But these were formed that they almost looked like a wing.

He was so enchanted by the painting, that he didn’t notice Thatch coming to stand next to him, until he spoke. “It’s great, ain’t it? Izo really outdid himself with this one. I mean, it’s not nearly as great as mine, but hey, I’m not in it. But other than that, it’s amazing.”

“Wha… What are those flames?” Ace asked, still not able to tear his eyes away from the canvas.

Thatch started to laugh. “’Cause of his nickname, of course.”

That confused him enough to look at Thatch. “What nickname?”

“He never told you?” Thatch looked puzzled as well, before he shook his head with a smile. “Of course, that guy is way too modest to tell something like that. When Marco was still a fireman, he was called ‘the Phoenix’!”

* * *

Marco realised he hadn’t seen Ace in a while. His friends had already left, but Ace was nowhere to be seen. Marco asked Jozu if he had seen him.

“I think he went with Thatch to the back of the gallery. Probably to show him the family collection,” Jozu said.

Marco nodded, when suddenly realisation hit him like a bucket of cold water. The family collection. His painting. That, in combination with Thatch’s big mouth…

Cursing under his breath, he made his way to the back of the gallery without looking too inconspicuous.

He was already too late.

Ace and Thatch were standing in front of the painting, the latter grinning like the idiot he was. But Marco was more interested in – and dreaded all the while – Ace’s reaction.

Thatch noticed his presence first. “There you are. Geez, how modest are you not to tell that part of your past. Aren’t you proud of that? Besides, you probably could have gotten in his pants earlier if you told him.” He gestured to Ace, who still hadn’t responded. “Wait, why did I say that? I need a drink.” Shaking his head, he walked off.

His eyebrows furrowed, Marco studied Ace’s face. Shock and disbelief was written all over it, his eyes widened and his jaw slightly slack. “Ace,” Marco tried carefully.

“You were the Phoenix?” Ace’s voice was soft.

“That’s what people called me,” he responded awkwardly. “You’ve heard of that, then?”

“Have I heard of the Phoenix? Are you fucking kidding me?” Suddenly, the shocked expression had disappeared and replaced by a look of excitement. “Every firefighter wants to be like that. Nobody ever knew what they looked like, the photos in the newspapers they was always wearing a helmet or something. I assumed that was because they wanted to let everyone think they could be anybody. But now… You!”

Marco stumbled a few paces back to brace himself for the impact when Ace launched himself on him, kissing him fervently. He had trouble processing it. Ace was excited. He looked up to the Phoenix.

Slowly, it dawned upon him. Ace had no idea why he had become the Phoenix.

Ace let go, panting, and smiled up to him. “I can’t believe you’re actually him.”

“Why, are you disappointed?” Marco asked, trying to sound casual. He wasn’t sure how to feel. It felt like another weight had been lifted off his shoulders, like when he told Ace he had been a firefighter, while at the same time his secret was still safe. He should be relieved, really, but somehow, he wasn’t. After all, the next step would be his secret…

“Of course not. It would have been nice to know, though.” Ace seemed lost in thought for a moment. “But I guess it would be hard to talk about. Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard anything about the Phoenix for over a year. I guess that’s when you had your accident.”

Marco nodded.

“What I don’t understand, is why you never revealed you face. It’s not like you’re hard to look at,” he joked.

Marco looked at the floor. “I didn’t do it for the glory.”

Ace smiled. “Thatch is right. Wow, I didn’t think I would ever use those words in the same sentence. But still. You didn’t even tell me. You are too modest.”

* * *

It was late when they finally arrived at Marco’s home. They didn’t have much time to discuss things further at the gallery. After Ace had said Marco was too modest, they were dragged away by the other brothers and didn’t spend more time alone that night.

Now it was finally just the two of them again. They were lying in bed in silence for a while, when Ace said: “I can’t wait to see the look on the faces of the others when they hear I’ve been fucking the Phoenix. Hell, I can’t wait to see Johnson’s face when he hears who he tried to run over.” He smirked a little conceited. “He was quite the fan.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I'd prefer to keep it quiet,” Marco said.

Ace rolled over to Marco’s side of the bed. “Look, I understand that it may be difficult to talk about, but you deserve their fucking respect. After all you’ve done…”

Marco let out a humourless laugh. “I haven’t done that much.” All the guilt came rushing back. He didn’t deserve the rest he had gotten and he sure as hell didn’t deserve Ace.

The freckled face softened. “You’re planning on returning to your old ways as soon as you’ve completely healed, aren’t you?”

Marco didn’t respond and continued staring at the ceiling.

“Have you never considered that you might have done enough?”

His head snapped up at that. “What?”

“I don’t know why you feel like you should save everyone, but just think about it. You saved dozens of people from the fire, children as well, without striking up any of the credit. Of course, your accident was terrible, but you got better. You may not be able to do everything you were used to, but you’re alive and you can walk.” Ace smiled. “That’s your reward. You’ve done enough. Now just sit back and enjoy life.”

He honestly didn’t know what to say. He never looked at it that way. What if Ace was right?

Ace smiled at his confused face. “I know, right? I’m pretty smart.”

It was a lot to wrap his head around. Was it true? Had he repaid his dept and could he just relax now? What if Ace wasn’t a reminder of his guilt, but a reward?

But right now, he didn’t want to think anymore. All he wanted was Ace. Swallowing thickly, he grabbed Ace by the back of his neck and pulled him close. Ace crawled on top of him and gave into the kiss. Their lips moved slowly, trying to taste as much of each other as possible. Marco’s hands slid down Ace’s back, carefully pulling down his boxers. Ace moved his hips to assist him, meanwhile never letting go. He seemed to understand Marco’s need to be close right now.

Marco heard some rummaging around in his nightstand, while Ace still continued their kiss. Ace sat up, moving backwards to work off Marco’s pyjama bottoms. Marco caressed Ace’s muscular upper body. A small bottle was pressed into his hand and he uncapped it, slicking his fingers.

Gently, Ace sucked on Marco’s tongue and let out a soft moan when the fingers slipped inside him. He bit Marco’s bottom lip, his eyelids fluttering open. Pulling back a little, he was met by beautiful blue eyes. His words must have had a major impact. Unlike their first time, Ace didn’t have to drag Marco along. Marco was even the one initiating it. It made Ace wonder why Marco felt so obligated to risk his own life. But asking would have to wait. Something special was happening, and Ace would be damned if he ruined it.

Marco’s fingers left him. Without breaking eye contact, Ace slid the condom he had retrieved around Marco’s awaiting member. He lifted his body and lowered himself onto Marco. He fought the urge to close his eyes, instead continuing to look Marco in the eye. Slowly, he rolled his hips.

They soon found a pace, unhurried and gentle. Marco tried to meet Ace’s movements as much as he could. They never lost eye contact, until Ace leaned in and kissed his Marco, and they both closed their eyes. Their kiss matched the movements of their bodies. Both wanted to feel as much from the other as possible. Marco’s hands caressed Ace’s abs, feeling the muscles ripple under the skin as Ace moaned softly.

Gently, he took the freckled face between his hands. Ace looked at him, his eyes clouded with emotion. Their bodies kept moving with the same rhythm, slow and deep. Ace’s eyes closed again when he reached his climax, Marco following soon after with a soft groan.

Breathing heavily, Ace crawled off Marco, who got up to throw the used condom away, before Ace’s arms pulled him back into bed. They kissed again, deeply.

Marco caressed a black strand from Ace’s face. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“Don’t thank me for that,” Ace muttered and hit his face in the crook of Marco’s neck. “It was nice.”

Marco noticed Ace’s bright red ears and smiled. He had probably never made love before. Marco decided not to tease him because of his embarrassment. For now.

“How’s your back?” Ace whispered.

Marco wrapped his arms around the other man and kissed his black hair. “I’m fine.”

They lay like that in silence for a while, and Marco was sure Ace had fallen asleep, when Ace suddenly asked: “Marco?”

He hummed to indicate he was listening.

“I may have promised Thatch to put in a good word for him with Nojiko.”

Marco let out a laugh. “I’m not sure if I should say poor Thatch or poor Nojiko.”

Ace pushed himself up a little. “Doesn’t that mean that they would make a great couple?” he asked with a chuckle.

Marco smiled and caressed some hair from Ace’s face. “I suppose it does.”

* * *

Ace dashed out of the car before Marco even had the time to turn the engine off. He couldn’t help but chuckle at Ace’s enthusiasm. This was the day that the parents would join in on the aikido training.

Ace hopped from one foot to the other while Marco got his bag from the trunk. After the night at the gallery, something had changed between them. Marco seemed to be more relaxed around him. Why, Ace didn’t know, but he hadn’t dared to ask either. Maybe Marco had finally realised that Ace was serious about him? It didn’t matter anyway. Marco seemed happier, and so was he. Thinking back about the lovemaking sent butterflies to his stomach. It had been weird, but in a good way. He never had sex so tender before.

Finally, Marco had caught up with him. Suddenly, Ace’s face turned into a frown. “Are you sure this will be okay? With your back and all.”

“I’ll be fine.” Marco took Ace’s chin in his hand. “Don’t worry so much, alright?”

He nodded, pouting a little and together, they went inside. There they chanced upon Nojiko. She nodded in greeting and was about to leave again, when Ace grabbed her wrist. “Wait! Are you dating anyone?”

She pulled her arm back. “What’s it to you?”

“’Cause I know the perfect guy for you.”

“You hardly know me.” She rolled her eyes.

“Aw, come on! You like guys, right?” Ace gave her his famous puppy look.

She sighed. “Yes. Alright, who’s the guy?”

“His brother,” Ace said triumphant and slapped Marco on his shoulder.

“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that,” she said cautiously.

“But he’s a great guy! A bit of a goofball and desperate–”

“You know how I like my men.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Ace pouted again. “He’s really an okay guy. Ask your sister, she’s met him. Or on second thought, don’t. Marco, help me out here. He’s your brother!”

“Actually, your description was quite accurate.”

Ace scowled at him. “You’re no help.” Then he turned to Nojiko again. “He is really great. His name is Thatch and he has amazing hair… Please?”

She sighed. “You have a picture?”

Ace turned to Marco. “Do you?”

“I though you had some as well.”

“Not the kind that make a good first impression.”

Nojiko sighed again. “I’m already regretting this.”

Marco got out his phone and looked up a photo of Thatch that was at least a little flattering – which wasn’t easy – and showed it to Nojiko.

She hummed thoughtfully. “Not bad, I guess. But what’s up with the Elvis-hair?”

“His hair is awesome!” Ace exclaimed and folded his arms before his chest, daring her to say otherwise.

She shook her head smiling. “Alright, I’ll think about it. Now, go to your training.”

* * *

 

The children and their parents entered the training hall. Not all parents had been able to make it, after all, it was a workday and around dinnertime. Still, several moms and dads had joined. Andrea’s mother – Laki, as she had introduced herself – had been kind enough to invite them, so the only thing Marco had to do was come up with suitable training.

Marco sat down on his knees in front of the children and their parents. The kids mirrored his action, looking proud as the parents followed their example a little surprised. Marco introduced himself and explained he would give a usual training, but at a beginner’s level. One of the parents said he didn’t have to make it easy, and Marco smiled mysteriously. “We will start with the warming-up.”

The children rose and mimicked his actions, the parents joining in hesitantly. After they were warmed up, Marco gestured for Ace to come forward. “Today my lovely assistant will help me out with the demonstrations.”

“Do you see me wearing a pink dress with spangles?” Ace muttered a little annoyed.

Marco snickered, before he started the demonstration. He had picked out some basic moves, but he doubted that the children would complain this time. Last time he had made quite the impression on them. Besides, it was their chance to show off to their parents, and they really seemed to enjoy that.

After having demonstrated the technique a few times, he gestured to his students to try it out. They made duos – usually the parent with their child, but only seven of the guardians had made it. Joyce seemed fine when Ace became her opponent, though.

Marco walked around, giving instructions here and there. It soon became clear that it was a good thing Marco had let them start out easy. The parents had no idea what they were doing, much to both the joy and frustration of their children.

Ace, however, was a very fast learner and helped Marco out when possible. After the first exercise, Marco set out several other ones. Some of the parents got the hang of it, but others never got it. It was nearing the end of the training, and Marco wanted to introduce the final technique, when one of the moms, a woman named Carmen, asked: “This is all great, but do you really think my girl can defend herself like this?”

“Mira is still training, but she's getting better every time. I understand your scepticism, though,” Marco answered. “But nobody is an expert after one training.”

“Sensei! Do that demonstration with Ace!” Andrea called out. “Then they can see how good you are.”

Marco exchanged a look with Ace, who shrugged.

“That sound very promising,” Laki encouraged them.

“Alright.” Marco rose and motioned Ace over. “I should probably add that Ace is an amateur boxer.”

Ace grinned at the gasps he heard and couldn’t help but wink at the audience.

They took their positions. To make his point, Marco decided to use mostly the techniques they had practiced. So when Ace’s fist almost made contact with his jaw, he dove under the fist and started the technique as practiced.

Laki started applauding when he pinned Ace down on the mat, and some of the others joined in. He repeated the action several times, until he deemed it enough. One of the fathers, Ohm, didn’t agree and said: “Well, I cannot deny that was impressive. But of course it is easier when you know which attack will come and when.”

A smile tucked at the corner of Marco’s mouth. “Then how about you come at me. Better yet, please everyone, divide yourself over the corners and come at me. One at the time of course. But use the attack you deem fit.”

The students did as they were told. Ohm started, aiming with his fist to Marco’s belly. In a blink of an eye, he was pinned down. Laki was next with a hit to the head. She soon was lying down as well. After several attacks, Marco told Andrea to step in the middle. Her dark brown eyes widened. “But! I can’t do that!”

“Yes, you can. Just do as we have practiced. Take a deep breath and don’t think,” he encouraged her.

She nodded. The first one attacked, and she managed to floor him relatively fast. After two times Marco let someone else take position in the middle, until all his students had had a turn. The parents were obviously not ready for an exercise like that.

Finally, he gestured all of them to sit down. “The last exercise was a hard one, but it teaches you to stop thinking and just do it. But you did all very well.” He then turned to the parents. “Thank you for joining us. I hope you have gotten an impression of what we do here and how useful aikido can be.”

There was a murmur of approval. Marco bowed to his students, who returned the greeting, before they left for the changing rooms.

Laki had become so excited about aikido that she had decided to join an adult group. Marco gave her some information about who to contact, before he and Ace also made for the changing room.

Though the boys had looked dead tired after the training, now they excitedly and ran to the showers naked. Marco smiled and started to undo his _gi_.

“The training was great,” Ace said smiling. “You really showed them.”

Marco smiled and leaned in for a kiss. Suddenly, they heard a disapproving sound from behind them. Marco took a slow, deep breath before turning around annoyed. Behind him Higuma, Arthur’s father, was standing. “May I help you?” Marco asked, irritation evident in his voice.

“I don’t think that it is appropriate to make out with you assistant.”

Marco smirked a little. “He is not my assistant right now.”

“Is that how you usually train, then?” Higuma asked, completely ignoring Marco’s remark. “You think you set a good example for the kids?”

“I don’t kiss _my boyfriend_ during the training, as you just witnessed. And I don’t see what is inappropriate about it. I suppose you don’t kiss your wife when your son is present either?”

Higuma paled a little. “Don’t compare me with the likes of you.”

Marco took a step forward. He was only wearing his boxers right now, but still he looked rather intimidating. “And who would that be?”

“Higuma, knock it off. He’s not doing anything wrong,” Ohm mixed in.

“That depends on one’s point of view.”

Ace got up from the bench he had been sitting on. “Let me clog him in the snout,” he grouched, but Marco stopped him.

“I do not take Ace to all of the trainings. He is here now because Laki insisted and because I could show him off…” He could practically feel Ace smirking, so he quickly continued: “His skills. However, who I date is my business.” With that he made clear he would speak no more of it and gestured for Ace to continue dressing.

Ace shrugged and bent over to get his shorts, which had fallen on the floor. He almost choked when he heard Marco say: “Sir, I would appreciate it if you could refrain from staring at my boyfriend’s ass.”

Ace looked around, to see Higuma having turned away, his ears a dark shade of red. At that moment, the boys got out of the shower and they spoke no more of what happened.

Leaving the changing room, Marco said goodbye to a few parents who thanked him for letting them join the training. Along with Ace, he made his way to the car.

“So,” Marco said, as he placed his bag in the trunk, “a pink dress with spangles, eh? I’m sure Izo has something like that that you could borrow…”


	19. Chapter 19

Sighing, Marco picked up the pair of glasses from his desk and placed them onto his nose. He had finally given in and bought reading glasses. It wasn’t that he didn’t like wearing them, they actually looked pretty good on him, but needing them was a sign that he was getting old. He would just have to hide them from his brothers and, more importantly, Ace, to prevent teasing about his age. Not that he was the eldest or that Ace actually knew how old he was, but they knew it was a sensitive subject and they wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

Still, the glasses did help, as his eyes didn’t grow tired after reading a page anymore, which meant he could get his job done faster. There was a pile of files waiting to be sorted, and he had been putting it off.

When he was halfway through the pile, the door from his office was suddenly thrown open, and Ace came bouncing in. Marco hastily took off his glasses, placing them in his lap to hide them from Ace.

Ace’s grin disappeared slowly. “What was that?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

He took a step closer. “Put ‘em back on.”

Marco sat frozen. He saw them? Great, let the teasing begin. “I don’t know–”

“Your glasses. Put ‘em back on,” Ace repeated himself. His facial expression was blank and unreadable, but his eyes were locked with Marco’s, unblinking, a gaze that wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Realising it was futile to pretend he didn’t know what Ace was talking about, he slowly picked up the glasses and placed them back onto his nose. For a moment Ace didn’t move, just staring at him. Then, suddenly, he threw himself on top of Marco, who had to place his feet firmly on the floor not to have his desk chair launched against the wall. Lips smashing against his own, he wrapped his arms around Ace in a reflex, not sure what was going on.

Ace let go of him in order to breathe, sitting back in his lap. He placed a hand on Marco’s cheek and groaned. “Fuck, you look hot.”

Marco blinked. That was not what he had been expecting.

“Why have I never seen you wearing them?” Ace asked.

Marco leaned back in his chair, avoiding eye contact in embarrassment. “I bought them recently.”

Ace bit his lower lip and let his hands run up Marco’s chest. “You should have gotten glasses before.” He started attacking Marco’s neck with his lips.

“Maybe if I knew what kind of effect they had on you, I would have,” Marco smirked.

Ace hummed against his skin.

Marco let him do as he pleased for a while, before grabbing his chin and forcing him to stop. Ace made a disappointed noise. “We’re still in my office,” Marco berated him.

“Does this door lock?” Marco could see excited sparkles in Ace’s eyes.

“Yes, but I really have to get back to work. And so do you.”

Ace pouted. “Fine.” He moved off Marco’s lap. “Just one question. Why wouldn’t you let me see them?”

Marco scratched the back of his head embarrassed and pushed the pair of glasses, which had slid down from Ace’s attack, further up his nose. “I figured you would react the same way as my brothers would. And I wasn’t feeling like getting teased about my age.”

Ace cocked his head. “I don’t even know how old you are, nor do I care. Besides, Sanji’s got reading glasses and he’s my age. And looks fucking hot with them.”

“Well, if I had known you had a glasses kink, I might have done something about it sooner,” Marco said with a smirk.

Ace smiled sheepishly. “Maybe I’ll show you tonight how much I like it…” With that, he left Marco’s office, swaying his hips a little more on purpose, and leaving Marco behind without the will to work anymore.

* * *

Days passed relatively peacefully. Akainu hadn’t made an attempt on Ace’s life anymore, nor had Marco been endangered by a jealous co-worker. After they had had their talk when Ace had found out that Marco used to be the Phoenix, they hadn’t discussed the matter anymore, but that didn’t mean Marco didn’t think about Ace’s words. He had said Marco had done enough, that he should enjoy the peace he was granted.

That night, Marco had believed him. Ace probably hadn’t realised how much his words meant to him. Marco had never looked at it that way before. He had always seen his accident as a punishment, not a blessing. But if Ace was right, the universe or whatever had forgiven him, and Ace was his reward. That moment, Marco had an intense need to be close to Ace. Though Ace hadn’t understood his sudden craving for him, he hadn’t complained and just went along. It had resulted in the most tender love-making either of them had had in their life.

The next day, the magic was broken, and Marco had started thinking again. Ace didn’t know what he had done in the past. He had said he didn’t know why Marco felt the need to rescue all those people, risking his own life. Would he ever understand? Would he ever be able to forgive Marco for what he had done?

The thought had crossed his mind that he may not ever have to tell Ace, that they could live happily ever after without the truth ever coming out. Well, as happy as one can be with a guilty conscience. He had dismissed the thought, as he could never live with himself like that. Maybe he should tell Ace the truth, then? If Ace really stood by his words from that night, he should forgive Marco, right? But he didn’t dare to risk it. If he was wrong and Ace would not forgive him – and why would he? – he risked losing Ace forever. He couldn’t stand that thought.

Driving himself mad with thoughts like these, he decided that he would make a resolve when Akainu was no longer a threat. He couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t go after Ace again, even if Akainu had been laying low for a while. Marco was going to make sure Akainu could never hurt Ace again. Maybe then, he would actually have repaid his debt to that small boy from all those years ago. Maybe then, he would be able to tell the truth. But for now, he would just keep Ace close and enjoy the time they had together.

He was acting on that plan right now, stopping by Ace’s house unannounced. Marco could make dinner, something that was always appreciated, for Ace and perhaps Luffy too. Marco liked the hyperactive Luffy, which made Ace happy. It was family after all, and Marco liked that Ace valued family just as much as he did.

Ringing the doorbell, he waited for someone to open the door. Of course, there was a key under the doormat, since both brothers often lost their keys, but Marco didn’t want to risk walking in on things he wasn’t supposed to see. Especially since he knew that Nami stayed at the house often.

The door flew open suddenly, but the man in the doorway was not who Marco had been expecting. He was tall and broad, his hair, beard and moustache grey. Something about him looked familiar, and the fact that he was at Ace’s and Luffy’s house could only mean one thing. He was standing face to face with Garp D. Monkey, the D-brothers’ grandfather.

Garp raised an eyebrow upon seeing him. “Who are you?”

Marco managed to keep up his relaxed but bored face, though he was slightly panicking on the inside. He wasn’t supposed to be meeting more family members! It was bad enough that he liked Ace’s brother and friends, and that Ace was friends with Marco’s own brothers. That would complicate things if he ever had to break up with Ace. Meeting the guardian was the last thing he needed.

Still, there was no going back now. “My name is Marco Fenwick. I’m here to see Ace.”

“He’s not here. Wait, why does that name sound familiar?” Garp rubbed at his beard, lost in thought.

They seemed to realise it at the same time. Garp had been at the trial. Of course he had been, it was his grandson after all. And at the trial…

“You’re that arson inspector who flirted with Ace during his trail,” Garp stated matter-of-factly.

“I wouldn’t call it flirting,” Marco protested.

“So, now you’re stalking him? I’ll warn you once, I’m the chief of police, and it’s no trouble at all to get a restraining order against you. I don’t care where you work,” the man threatened.

Marco raised an eyebrow. Ace obviously hadn’t told his grandfather they were dating now. Would he even know Ace both liked men and women? It wasn’t like Ace was shy about it. “I highly doubt Ace would appreciate that,” he managed coolly. If Garp didn’t know, at least he could play it off like they were friends.

Garp squinted at him. “Are you telling me you guys are dating?”

“What if we are?”

His answer came soon enough when suddenly a fist was heading for his face. Years of aikido kicking in, Marco lowered himself under the punch. He wasn’t even thinking anymore – if he had, he would have thought twice about trying to throw his possibly future in-law to the floor – his body moving on its own record, he tried to floor the man to render him harmless. Garp, however, was a well-matched opponent, again trying to hit him, this time in the stomach. Their fight on the doorstep lasted for a while, and a few onlookers gathered around. Finally, both stopped, panting from exertion.

“What’s that you’re doing?” Garp asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“It’s called aikido,” Marco answered, equally out of breath. For someone Garp’s age, he was in very good shape.

Garp started laughing. “Well, for someone not throwing any punches, you were a worthy opponent.” He held out his hand. “I’m sure you can keep an eye on my grandson.”

Hesitantly, Marco grabbed the extended hand and shook it, Garp almost crushing his bones. The onlookers slowly slinked off now that there was nothing to see anymore.

Garp hit Marco on the shoulder. “Come on in then. Ace isn’t here yet, but I’d like to get to know the man who manages to keep that rascal at bay.”

A slight smile tugged at the corner of Marco’s mouth as he realised he had been approved. The punches had not been because Garp accused him of turning his grandson gay, or other nonsense like that, but to test him. And he had passed.

Inside the house, Marco took the liberty of making some tea, before taking place across Garp at the table.

It was silent for a while, Garp tapping his fingers on the top in thought. Eventually he said: “Even though that brat never told me he had a boyfriend, after you said… what you said during the trial…” Marco winced at that. How long would he be reminded of that?

“…I didn’t doubt Ace would at least agree to go out with you. He’s predictable like that. So I’ve taken the liberty to check you out a little.”

Marco stiffened. As chief of police, Garp should have enough clearance to get in many files sealed off for others. How much would he have found out?

“I didn’t find much,” Garp continued. “You used to be a firefighter, and quite the hero at that, before you got into an accident. After that, you were re-educated to become an arson inspector. A few parking tickets, but nothing much. What I find more interesting, however, is the man who raised you.”

Marco narrowed his eyes a little. He was relieved he had been cleared, but having his father involved was a whole different story. “Why’s that?” he asked cautiously.

Garp drummed with his fingers on the table. “Newgate and I go way back.”

Marco’s jaw went slack, and he stared at Garp across the table. “You know Pops?”

Garp hummed. “In a previous life.”

Marco continued staring at him dumbfounded. He couldn’t grasp that his father had somehow known a police officer, even if it was a long time ago. Garp didn’t seem to be planning on elaborating on it, however, his head leaning on his hand as he was lost in thought about days long gone.

Marco would have to ask Pops.

The front door opened, and Marco could hear Luffy babbling happily about some kind of food – what else? – and Ace laughing.

The latter entered the living room, his mouth turning into a bright smile when he saw Marco. That smile disappeared almost immediately when he recognised his grandfather. “Gramps! What the hell are you doing here? I swear, if you touched him…”

“It’s okay,” Marco said soothing, standing up and walking over to Ace. “I’ve been approved,” he said after kissing Ace on the lips.

“You have?” Ace seemed to relax. Still, his face was turned in a scowl. “That doesn’t explain what the hell you're doing here, Gramps.”

Garp snorted. “Can’t I just come by and see my grandsons?”

“What did we do wrong this time?” Ace asked suspiciously.

Garp sighed. “You, nothing. Aside from not telling me you finally stopped bouncing around and actually gave this one a chance. Luffy,” he turned to him, who was looking guiltily at the floor, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you. You two, leave.”

Ace seemed to want to protest, but Marco pulled him along by his hand. “Come on, we’ll go get groceries.”

The prospect of food, plus the fact that he escaped some painful punches, rotated Ace’s mood and he happily skipped after Marco, calling to Luffy: “Good luck, Luffy.”

Outside, however, he turned back to sulking.

“What’s wrong?” Marco asked, a little confused by the mood swings.

Ace stopped in his tracks and bit his lip. “Are you gonna break up with me?”

Marco’s stomach clenched at that, but he managed to bring out: “Why would you think that?”

“Well, you’ve met Gramps.”

Marco started laughing. “That’s what concerns you? Don’t worry about it, it went fine.”

Ace looked at him suspiciously. “You’re telling me that he _didn’t_ try to hit you?”

“Well,” Marco hesitated, “I didn’t say that. But he could appreciate that I was able to avoid him from hitting me.”

Ace nodded slowly.

“So, he does that with all your partners?” Marco asked as they resumed walking.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never introduced one to him. Well, the only one who would qualify for that was Vivi, but I managed to avoid Gramps that month. And Nami was immediately approved when he saw her hitting Luffy on the head for being stupid.”

Marco let out a laugh. “Typical. But apparently your grandfather knew Pops.”

Ace looked up at that. “Really?”

“Yeah. A long time ago, it seems. But I think they must have been friends or something, so that should have worked in my favour.” He smiled at Ace.

Ace was silent, but, suddenly, he carefully took Marco’s hand and intertwined their fingers. Marco looked up a little surprised, noting that Ace was slightly blushing and not looking his way.

“I’m glad he approved of you,” Ace muttered.

* * *

“But I don’t wanna,” Luffy whined. Several weeks had passed by and tonight the Baratie, the restaurant that had burned down, would be reopened. Sanji had invited his friends to come and dine there on the big opening night. Luffy, however, had to work as dishwasher boy. He had never been able to keep a job for long, but Nami had managed to persuade Sanji to hire him. Not that Sanji had needed much persuasion, he would do anything Nami asked.

But that meant Luffy had to work, and therefore he could not eat. Not at the restaurant, anyway, as he was currently putting away his third pizza.

“You’re going, and you’re going to keep this job as well,” Nami berated him. “You can’t afford to eat there anyway, and I’m not lending you anymore money.”

“But Ace is going too,” Luffy pouted and looked accusingly at his brother who was sitting next to an amused Marco on the couch.

“I have a job,” Ace said smugly. “And I work hard.”

“Well, you work,” Marco said smirking. Ace jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.

Outside, the honking of a car sounded, and Nami pushed the protesting Luffy towards the door. “Go. Work. And try not to mess it up. And remember to thank Sanji for taking you with him!”

Behind him, she closed the door with a sigh. “This is going to be a disaster, isn’t it?”

“Probably.” Ace snickered. “But I’m sure Sanji can handle him.”

Nami sat down on the chair across from the men on the couch. “Speaking of idiots, I still can’t believe that you came up with the idea to set up my sister with his brother,” she said to Ace, gesturing with her head to Marco.

Ace shrugged, deciding not to mention that Thatch was the one who put the idea in his head in the first place. “ _I_ can’t believe you talked her into it.”

It was Nami’s turn to shrug. “She desperately needed a date. And just because he is obviously an idiot – no offence – doesn’t mean he can’t be a good guy. I should know, I’m dating the king of the idiots.”

“Let’s just see how their date goes,” Ace said. “It’s too bad Noj had to go abroad suddenly that they had to postpone it. But I am kinda curious how it’ll work out. Perfectly, of course, I set them up, after all,” he added with a smug grin.

Marco and Nami exchanged a look, but decided not to comment.

They chatted for a while, not feeling the need to hasten themselves. Eventually, Nami and Ace went upstairs to change, the former apparently having brought her dress. Marco was already wearing his suit.

Nami was the first to come downstairs again, wearing a low cut black dress and a pink boa. “Ace isn’t back yet?” she asked a little surprised.

Marco, who had been reading a book, placed it on the coffee table and took off his glasses. “I haven’t seen him. I wonder what’s taking him so long.”

At that moment, they heard someone running down the stairs, and, seconds later, Ace appeared in the living room again. “Look, Marco! I tied it all by myself.” He proudly pointed at his tie.

Marco chuckled. Ace reminded him of a kid that just did his best at a drawing. But like such drawings, the tie wasn’t completely correctly done. Still, seeing Ace’s excited face, he decided to let it slide. “That’s great.” Ignoring Nami’s smirk, he pulled Ace into a hug.

* * *

It was the second time in a few weeks that Ace went to a fancy place. This time, there were a lot of journalists with cameras, and there was even a red carpet. They had arrived just in time to see the mayor cut the ribbon that hung before the entrance. There were many flashes of the cameras and loud applause.

Ace hopped from one foot to the other, his stomach rumbling. “Can we go in yet?”

Next to him, Marco snickered. “You just had pizza. Honestly, your appetite never ceases to amaze me.”

Ace smiled sheepishly. Suddenly, he ducked, when he saw the mayor being followed by none other than his grandfather. Of course, all big shots of the city were invited, including the station manager of the fire station. He groaned.

Marco chuckled. He did prefer not seeing his boss, or Ace’s grandfather for that matter, on his free night, but at least they would be seated at different tables.

At that moment, the rest of their friends joined them. Robin, Franky, Brook, Zoro, Chopper, Usopp, Vivi and Kohza were all invited by Sanji and, together, they walked over the red carpet towards the entrance.

“My, this is quite the occasion,” Robin commented. “They have gone all out.”

“The place looks SUPERR, if I may say so myself.” Franky struck a pose. As a contractor, he had been hired to rebuild the Baratie.

They entered the building to be welcomed by Sanji himself. Sanji couldn’t help but swoon over the girls. He ignored the men for the most part, except casting some glances Zoro’s way, and Ace chuckled. A while ago, Zoro had gone to Sanji and when he came back, he couldn’t get the goofy grin off his face. He hadn’t wanted to tell Ace what happened, but soon Ace had guessed Sanji had finally given in. Zoro had promised not to say anything, as Sanji still wanted to keep it a secret. So Ace kept his mouth shut – even though he couldn’t refrain from telling Marco. Ace shot Zoro a knowing smirk and followed Sanji to their table.

“So why aren’t you in the kitchen, Mr Cook?” Robin asked after Sanji had helped her into her seat.

“Must be because they don’t want anyone to have food poisoning on the opening night,” Zoro said smirking.

Sanji turned around brusquely. “What did you say, moss-for-a-brain?!”

“You heard me, shit cook.”

They glared at each other, until they heard a shy cough behind them. “Ehm, Sanji? I’m supposed to wait this table, right?” a blond haired girl asked, holding a pile of menus.

Sanji left them, but Usopp couldn’t stop staring at the girl. “S-so, Kaya, how are you?” he stuttered.

She smiled at him. “It’s my first night being an actual waitress, so I’m a little nervous.”

“You’re going to be great,” he encouraged her. She flashed him another smile, before taking their orders.

After she had left, having taken their drinking orders, Ace leaned towards Usopp. “So, you wanna tell me what’s between you two?”

“What?” Usopp shrieked, his voice breaking. “N-nothing is going on. Kaya is just a childhood friend…”

“Right.” Ace wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “And it’s not like you would want her to be more than that, would you?”

The blush on his friend’s cheeks was enough answer, even if Usopp tried to hide them behind his menu.

Marco looked amused at the two. Ace had the ‘I’m gonna meddle until they are dating’ look on his face. Poor Usopp had no idea what was coming for him. Chuckling, he turned back to his menu, when he noticed the front door opening and he froze in his seat when he recognised the person entering. What the hell was _he_ doing here? Great, seeing an ex would be awkward, especially since he hadn’t told Ace about it. Marco tried to hide behind his menu, copying Usopp, but he had already been spotted.

His former boyfriend walked over to the table with his ever-present smirk. “Well, well. It sure has been a while.”

“Shanks?” he heard Ace asking next to him. “What are you doing here?”

Marco cursed under his breath. Shanks was Luffy’s godfather, and Luffy being Ace’s brother, of course they knew each other.

“I was invited,” Shanks said, still smirking. Another man, whom Marco recognised as Shanks’ best friend Benn, came to a stand next to him. “Marco, how have you been?” Shanks continued.

“I’m fine,” he answered stiffly, placing his menu down and crossing his arms before his chest. He could feel Ace staring at him.

“That’s good to hear. So how do you fit into this little group?”

Ace looked from one to the other. He didn’t like the vibe he felt. Marco and Shanks knew each other, Marco was acting distantly… That could only mean one thing. They had been dating, or at least slept together! Ace gritted his teeth. Nobody touched his Marco!

Marco was about to answer Shanks’ question, when suddenly he felt that the back of his head was grabbed, and Ace smashed their lips together. So Ace had figured it out. Soothingly, he caressed Ace’s leg under the table, trying to pry himself free.

Finally, Ace seemed to feel like he had brought his point across and he let go, shooting Shanks a challenging glare. Shanks just chuckled.

At that moment, Sanji approached the table. When Shanks noticed Sanji, he smiled brightly at him. “Evening, Sanji. So nice of you to invite us.”

“Of course,” Sanji muttered a little surprised. “I didn’t know you knew each other.” He gestured between his friends and Shanks.

“Sure we do,” Ace said, a little sourly. “Shanks is Luffy’s godfather.”

Sanji raised his curly eyebrows. “He is?”

Shanks just smirked. “Where is the little rascal anyway? Did you have to lock him up?”

“Actually, he’s working as a dishwasher-boy.” Sanji sighed. “I had to promise him all the leftovers, but I think he’ll behave.”

Shanks laughed. “What an optimist you are.”

“How do you know Shanks, Sanji?” Nami asked.

“I always buy books in his store, my beautiful flower~”

“All books, eh?” Zoro asked with the ever present smirk.

Sanji ignored his remark and said: “But I can pull up another table, if you prefer to sit together.”

“That’s okay,” Shanks and Ace said simultaneously. The latter received a small squeeze on his leg from Marco.

Shanks shot Marco another look and said: “I was aiming for a quiet night, anyway.”

Ace glared at Shanks as he and Benn were being led away by Sanji. Slowly, he picked up his menu again to pick a dish, but he couldn’t stop pouting.

The rest of the table had resumed with their own business, chatting about food and other things, but Marco could still feel Robin’s eyes watching him. Ace’s pout hadn’t disappeared as he went through the dishes on the menu. Ace didn’t deign to look at Marco, which annoyed him. Realising he wasn’t going to get out of this one without an explanation, he got up and held out his hand. “Come on.”

Ace looked at his hand like he was offering him a dead fish. “Where to?”

“I’m not sitting with you moping all night. Now, come on.”

Reluctantly, Ace got up, demonstratively not taking the extended hand. Marco just sighed and led him outside, ignoring the looks he got from Shanks and, from across the room, Garp.

On the street before the Baratie, it had become quiet. The journalists had left, only leaving some smokers and an occasional passer-by. Ace stood turned away, his arms crossed before his chest.

Marco sighed. “You didn’t really think I had never dated anyone before, did you?”

“That’s not the point!” Ace turned towards him. “This is Shanks. Shanks! My brother’s godfather!”

“He’s still human.”

“I know.” Ace sat down on the low wall that encircled the Baratie. “But… It was just unexpected, I guess. How did you meet, anyway?”

Marco sat down next to him and wiped with his hand across his face. “He’s an… acquaintance of Pops. We were friends for a while first, before–”

“I really don’t need to know that!” Ace interrupted him. Then he bit his lip and asked in a small voice: “When?”

“It was a few years ago already.” He heard Ace sighing in relief and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “You don’t need to worry of there still being feelings or anything.”

“Why’s that?” Ace looked up when Marco cupped his cheek and turned his face towards him.

“Because he is in love with someone else.” ‘ _As am I_ ,’ he thought.

Ace frowned. “Who?”

Marco gestured with his head towards the restaurant.

Ace looked at him confused for a moment, before his eyes widened like he heard the juiciest gossip. “No way! Benn?”

Marco nodded.

Ace seemed to have forgotten all about the incident and leaned in, asking in a conspiring tone: “But they’re not together, are they?”

“Not as far as I know. Not too long ago, Benn’s brother and his wife died in a plane crash, and Benn has taken custody over their young daughter. Shanks probably doesn’t want to come between that. Or, if he was rejected, that Benn should handle things alone. But that’s just my theory.” He straightened. “You feel better now?” When Ace remained seated, staring at his toes, Marco lowered himself again. “Me dating Shanks was not the only thing bothering you, was it?”

“It’s just…” Ace took a deep breath and said: “It seems to happen a lot that you don’t tell me stuff until you can’t get out of it.” He carefully looked up to Marco’s expression. “It’s like you don’t trust me.”

Marco stared into nothing. “Trust has got nothing to do with it,” he said after a few moments of silence. “I didn’t tell you about this, because it’s not important anymore.”

Ace nodded and got up. “I get it. Let’s go inside.” But he seemed anything but happy.

“I used to smoke.”

Surprised Ace looked at him.

“I haven’t in a long time, tough,” he continued.

Ace smiled and shook his head. “That’s good to know. But it wasn’t really what I meant.”

Marco bit his lip. He really needed to prove something here.

“Fenwick isn’t my real name.”

That had Ace stopping dead in his tracks. “It’s… not?” he asked confused.

“It’s an aberration from the word ‘phoenix’. It would be rather a coincidence, wouldn’t it?”

“Then why did you change it?”

Marco sighed and pulled Ace next to him. “Listen, when I was younger, I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I don’t regret them, though. Everything I did was to protect the people I care about. But I got out of the game and started anew.”

“But… Didn’t Gramps do a search on you?”

Marco sighed again. “Yes, and I fear he might find out something if he digs a little deeper. I can tell you more, but not here, with the chief of police a few feet away. And I don’t want to make you an accomplice or something.”

Ace smiled up at him. “I don’t mind. I kind of like it you were a bad boy.” The smile turned into a smirk.

Marco pulled him closer and played with the black locks. “Please don’t ever feel like I don’t trust you,” he whispered. “I may not tell you things, but I will never lie to you.” He took Ace’s face between his hands.

Ace nodded at his words and let himself be kissed.

* * *

When they got back to the table, Vivi looked at them a little concerned, though her face softened when she noticed them holding hands. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

Ace smiled at her. “Everything’s fine.”

“Oh Ace, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Chopper piped up, taking a sip from the apple juice Kaya had just placed in front of him. “How is it going with your medication?”

A few weeks ago, Ace had started to take the medication Law had given him, after Chopper had given him the all clear. “It’s going pretty well. Although,” he added musing, while he and Marco sat down, “if I forget to take a batch, I either fall asleep again or get really horny.”

Marco almost choked on his wine.

Ace turned towards him with a grin on his face. “Pervert.”

“Me? You’re the one blurting that out at the dinner table.”

Ace shrugged. “He asked. Besides, he’s a doctor, of course he’s interested in the side effects.” Next to him, Chopper started to do his little happy dance, telling Ace he wasn’t happy at all for being called a doctor and exclaiming obscenities.

While bringing their drinking orders, Kaya took their orders, a little flustered by Ace’s remark. Ace had a hard time choosing from the menu, as everything seemed delicious, so he persuaded Marco into letting him taste of whatever Marco got, which wasn’t too hard of a job. Nami, however was a whole other story, as she threatened to charge him if he even as much as looked at her dinner.

Ace was telling Vivi a story and Marco was discussing a trial he had to be at a few days ago with Robin, when their appetisers were brought. Ace’s stomach rumbled like he didn’t eat pizza right before they left for the restaurant, but a reprimanding look from Marco made him wait before starting, albeit pouting.

Kaya had to return to the kitchen to get Robin’s shrimp cocktail and Usopp’s mustard soup. Ace was waiting impatiently, trying not to drool in his food. Finally, Kaya returned, but unfortunately, she tripped before she could place Usopp’s order in front of him, effectively spilling the hot soup in his lap.

Ace cringed, his expression mirrored by most men at the table. Even if he wasn’t that effected by high temperatures, he knew most people were. Poor Usopp.

Kaya had placed her hand over her mouth, looking utterly devastated. “I’m so sorry!”

Chopper immediately started to panic. “Someone call a doctor!”

“You are a doctor,” Zoro said gently. “So is Kaya.”

Chopper sighed in relief. “That’s true. I forgot about that.”

Despite the obvious pain written on his face, Usopp gave them the thumbs up. “Really, this is nothing. Once I was tied to a table in the lair of an evil spy, who tried to cut me in half with a laser.”

Chopper’s eyes grew twice their size. “Really?”

Usopp laughed a fake laugh, carefully dabbing up the soup from his suit. Fortunately for him, Sanji just came up to him, holding a bag of frozen peas. Thankful, Usopp placed them on his groin.

“You better eat those when you’re done with them,” Sanji said threateningly.

“Please, let me have a look,” Kaya said. “Cooling it is good, but you should take off your pants.”

“Let’s get you to the bathroom, Usopp-bro.” Franky got up from his chair and helped the bright red Usopp up. “I highly doubt that Sanji-bro would appreciate it if you lowered your pants in public.”

Sanji frowned, looking after the three of them leaving, before turning to the table again. “Is everything to your liking?” He was standing next to Zoro.

“These appetisers are rather small,” Zoro commented.

Sanji turned around brusquely. “I was asking the ladies, moss-for-a-brain! I don’t care what you thi–”

His rant was interrupted by Zoro pulling at his tie until their lips met. The whole table stared at them as Sanji stood frozen as well. Finally, Sanji seemed to realise what was happening and kicked Zoro in the gut, knocking his chair over. “What the hell are you doing, you fucking bastard?” he yelled, before fixing his tie and saying apologetic to the dinner guests: “I seem to have dropped something.” With that, he left for the kitchen.

Ace hadn’t been able to hide his smirk. Zoro sat back on his chair and looked at him for a moment. Ace couldn’t resist giving him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. Robin chuckled behind her hand, Nami sighed and remarked that Zoro went pretty far to annoy Sanji, and Chopper looked confused around the table.

Despite his amusement, Ace was torn. On the one hand, he was worried about Usopp. On the other, their food was getting cold. “Do you think we should wait?” he asked no one in particular. He couldn’t help the little whine at the end.

“Can you, without starving to death?” Marco said with a chuckle, ruffling his hair.

“If Usopp’s okay, he will still need new soup. No reason to waste our appetisers,” Nami said shrugging.

Ace looked at her like she just saved his life and started inhaling his food.

Marco chucked again, taking a bite of his own appetiser, before placing the plate in front of Ace. Ace looked at him confused, so Marco said with a shrug: “I’m not that hungry.”

“You’re the best!” Ace gave him a quick peck and set out to eat Marco’s food.

* * *

Usopp’s burns were so severe that Kaya wanted to take him to an emergency room. Sanji lent her his car to do so, sending her along with Usopp. A new waitress was appointed to their table, a green haired girl named Camie.

Luffy, who had been into the kitchen up to that point, came dashing out into the dining area at a certain moment and bounced towards Shanks while Ace exchanged a look with Marco. Eventually, Luffy was sent back to the kitchen by Shanks, but first he came by his friends' table to try their food and to greet them – in that order.

Later that night, Zoro excused himself to go to the bathroom – where, by chance of course, Sanji had made his way to only seconds before. As soon as Zoro was out of earshot, Nami sighed and said: “Who do those two think they’re kidding?”

“Kidding with what?” Chopper asked, looking confused.

Ace snickered. “Well, Sanji is not ready to come out yet.”

“Care to place a bet on when he will?”

A loud crash could be heard from the direction of the bathroom, and Ace snickered again. “I’m guessing not for a while.”

* * *

Ace had already finished his food and tried begging Marco for some of his. Fortunately, Marco couldn’t resist his puppy dog look so eventually, Marco just switched plates with him. “Eat it. I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Thank you!” Ace called after him and happily started eating the food. Suddenly, he noticed Vivi looking at him. “What?”

She giggled. “You two are so cute together. I’m glad things are working out.”

“Me too.” He smiled. “I’ve broken my record of dating someone for a month,” he added proudly.

“Yes, we were all surprised about that.”

Ace’s head snapped up at Nami’s words. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She took a sip from her wine. “It’s just surprising you haven’t grown tired of him yet. I’d expected you to have slept with several others by now. Or maybe you have.”

Ace shot up from his chair. “I’m not cheating on Marco!”

“Of course not,” Vivi said soothing. “What Nami means to say is that you are a free spirit. But we’re all very happy that you found someone you want to settle down with.”

Ace’s cheeks coloured a dark shade of red, while he sunk back in his chair. “I didn’t say _that_ …” he muttered.


	20. Chapter 20

“You certainly like ’em young nowadays.”

Marco looked up from washing his hands. Shanks stood in the doorway, the ever-present grin on his face. Marco rolled his eyes and continued what he was doing.

Unfortunately, Shanks took that as an invitation to continue as he made his way to the urinals. “Not that I can blame you. Ace has turned into a fine young man. I mean, I only got a peek at his ass, but…” He zipped up and flushed the urinal.

“Don’t be a pervert,” Marco said, glaring at him.

Shanks lifted his one hand in a defensive manner. “I’m the pervert when you’re the one slamming him into the headboard?”

That earned him another glare and his grin only spread wider. “So I’m right? Anyway,” he hastily changed the subject when Marco’s eyebrow started to twitch dangerously, “it sure has been a while since I saw you, hasn’t it?”

Marco leaned on the washstand and pondered. “Once after my accident, I think. How have you been?”

“Fine. The usual.” Shanks made a vague gesture with his hand.

Marco looked at Shanks from head to toe. He looked fine – well, aside from the three parallel scars over his eye and the fact that he was missing his left arm. Shanks had lost it in a car accident when he was driving. Luffy had been there as well, apparently, but he had made it out in one piece, thanks to Shanks. Shanks had to pay with his arm. Still, he refused to get a prosthetic one, but he coped pretty good, aside from the fact that he couldn’t drive anymore and needed help with heavy lifting, which wasn’t uncommon as he owned a bookstore.

Marco knew that Shanks had some friends who helped him with that, amongst them Benn Beckman, the man that Shanks had brought to the restaurant. Although Shanks was hardly shy about his missing arm, Marco was one of the few who had seen the stump that was left of it, and only after they had been dating for a while. Before that, Shanks had kept his shirt on during sex.

“And now you’re bouncing around again without even as much as crutches,” Shanks said, a small smile on his face. “We expected nothing less of the Phoenix, eh?”

“I’m not him anymore,” Marco said deadpanned.

“Right. You’re an arson inspector now, dating a fireman with a nice booty.” Shanks snickered at the glare he received. “How did you two meet, anyway?”

“We work at the same fire station now.”

“And you didn’t make the connection that Luffy is my godson?”

Marco sighed. “Not until later. I didn’t think Ace would take it that hard.”

“Well,” Shanks slapped him on the back, “I’m impressed you’ve kept him at bay for so long. I talk to your brothers,” he explained before Marco got a chance to ask how the hell he knew that. “Besides, you should know by now that little gets past me,” he added, teasing.

Marco didn’t respond.

“Well, we should catch up sometime soon.” Shanks turned and made to leave, his right hand raised in a greeting gesture. “Congratulations on your relationship.”

“I’m not sure it’s going to last.”

He immediately regretted his words, but they were out before he realised it. Shanks had stopped dead in his tracks and turned around again. “What? Already tired of your boy toy?”

Marco gritted his teeth and snapped: “It’s nothing like that.”

Shanks raised an eyebrow, and Marco sighed in defeat. He had to tell someone, and, if anything, he trusted Shanks with his life. “Something happened, years ago,” he started hesitantly. “He… He doesn’t remember me being there, but he would never forgive me if he did.”

He could feel Shanks’ eyes on him, calculating. “Would this ‘something’ have anything to do with why you got out of the game?”

Marco stared at the floor. For someone that was usually goofing around, Shanks was annoyingly perceptive sometimes.

“I’ll take that as a yes. You know, you shouldn’t lie to the people you care about,” Shanks reprimanded him.

“And you’re one to talk.”

Shanks clutched at his chest. “Ouch, Marco. That was below the belt. I have good reasons, you know.”

“As do I. And I assumed they’re the same: we don’t want to lose the people we care about, right?”

Shanks sighed and shook his head. “You know, I was about to tell him. But then his brother died and there’s Rika to think about… I just couldn’t. What’s your excuse?”

“I should have come to you before.” Marco slapped himself mentally for not thinking about the obvious. If Pops couldn’t help him, Shanks might. “What do you know about a man named Akainu?”

Shanks scratched the back of his head. “The name does ring a bell. Isn’t he that rich business man that everyone loves?”

Marco snorted at that.

“Why are you changing the subject?” Shanks narrowed his eyes at him.

“I’m not.” He sighed. “That guy isn’t what he seems. He wants Ace dead.”

Shanks looked at him disbelieving. “Someone’s after Luffy’s brother? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“Akainu was the main reason why he almost went to jail. Only because that cop showed up…” Marco trailed off.

“I read about that. But if I had known that guy wanted Ace dead, I wouldn’t have let it slide. I’ll try to find out whatever I can, but I can’t promise anything. Men like that usually have their ways to smooth over ‘accidents’. So wait,” he interrupted himself, “you’re with him to protect him, aren’t you?”

Marco sighed. “I won’t tell him what happened in the past until I have taken care of that Akainu. Then, at least I won’t have to worry about his safety anymore.”

Shanks took a step closer to him. “Just promise me not to do anything stupid. I know how you are when you’re trying to protect someone. Think about what you have. You’re one of the few that got out of the game and managed to build up a new life. Don’t throw that away. It’s not fair to those who helped you.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Marco snapped. He sighed, knowing that Shanks was only worried about him. “It’s the least I can do. Saving his life, I mean. A life for a life.”

Before Shanks could respond, the door of the men’s bathroom suddenly swung open. A broad, grey haired man entered, glaring at both men near the washbasins.

“Well, hello, Mr Monkey,” Shanks greeted Garp cheerfully, like the conversation with Marco never happened, even though they still stood very close. “I’ve been meaning to greet you, but I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Garp narrowed his eyes at Shanks, who just kept smiling. “Out,” he said threateningly.

“My food’s getting cold anyway. Good luck, Marco~” he added in a singsong voice, before he left the men’s room.

For a while, Marco and Garp just looked at each other, the first a little confused as the latter tried to bore holes in his skull with his glare. Finally, Garp cleared his throat. “Look, that I approved of you does not mean that I won’t beat the crap out of you if you make a wrong move. What exactly is you’re relationship with that redhead?”

Marco met his stare head on. “We dated for a while. But we’ve broken up a long time ago.”

Garp narrowed his eyes. “I tolerate him because he saved Luffy’s life once and that idiot of a son of mine deemed it a good idea to make him his godfather. That doesn’t mean I’m happy with that, however.”

“Do you have something against bookstores?” Marco asked as innocently as possible.

Garp studied his face, trying to find out if he knew more than he let on – which, of course, he did – but Marco managed to keep his face neutral.

“Just be careful around him,” Garp said finally. “And remember: break Ace’s heart and I’ll break you. This conversation never happened.” With that, he left the men’s room.

Marco stared at the door for a moment, a little stunned. Then a smirk crept up his face. Garp may not let it show, but he was a softy at heart, who cared a lot for the boys he called his grandsons, even if one of them wasn’t even blood related. Marco couldn’t help but admire him for that.

* * *

When he got back to the table, the plate he gave to Ace was empty and pretty much licked clean. With a soft chuckle, he sat down, noticing they were a man down. The seat that Zoro previously had occupied was now vacant.

“He and Sanji damaged the restaurant, and now Sanji’s dad made them both help out,” Nami explained after seeing his questioning look. He nodded, remembering the Zoro-shaped dent in the wall of the men’s room and the broken door of one of the stalls. He could guess what had happened.

“So, did you _enjoy_ yourself?” Ace said surly, playing with his cutlery.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “I just went to the bathroom.”

“Riiight. And guess who happened to also ‘just had to go to the bathroom’?”

Marco sighed. So Ace still wasn’t over that. “We just talked. Nothing more.”

“About what?”

A smirk crept up his face. “About how cute you are.”

His words had the desired result. Ace’s face became bright red, even more so when several people around him started to chuckle and pointed out his state to him. “Shut up! I’m not cute! Besides,” he quickly changed the subject, “what did Gramps want?”

Marco considered telling Ace about his grandfather’s concerns, but dismissed the thought. He had no doubt Garp would keep true to the threat, so he merely shrugged and said: “He just threatened me, is all.”

“So the usual. What about this time?” Ace inquired.

“Apparently, he isn’t much of a fan of Shanks’.”

Ace let out a laugh. “You can say that again. He thinks he is a bad influence on Luffy. But my brother adores him. Shanks gave him his hat, you know.”

“Yes, I do,” Marco said smiling.

The happy look disappeared from Ace’s face and he started pouting again. “Of course you do.”

Marco sighed and grabbed Ace’s chin and, turning his face towards him, kissing him gently. Slowly, Ace’s pout disappeared.

“That reminds me, Mr Inspector,” Robin said, betting her lips with her napkin. “I heard something interesting at work today.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, wondering how that had to do with anything and silently encouraging the lawyer to continue.

“Some co-workers of mine discussed a trial for attempted murder and, surprisingly enough, your name came up,” she explained, taking a sip of her wine.

“Eh? Marco tried to murder someone?” Chopper looked at Marco with big brown eyes.

“Of course not. If that were the case, he would have been arrested, wouldn’t he?” Nami commented. “The question is, what did you have to do with it?” She turned to Marco.

“He was the victim.” Robin twirled her wine around in her glass.

All eyes were now focussed on him. Marco sighed, seeking help from Ace. He had almost forgotten about the incident with Scorpion Johnson, hadn’t it been for the upcoming trial. Of course he had to testify and he would gladly do so, though he couldn’t say he was happy about being in courtrooms this often. Usually, he was only there as an expert for arson cases, but for this one it was personal.

“Someone tried to kill you?” Vivi asked disbelieving.

Marco shrugged. “Jealousy can do strange things to people.”

“Jealousy of what? You’re not rich. Are you?” Nami added calculating.

“It wasn’t about money.” Marco took Ace’s hand in his.

“I see,” Robin said. “Well, I suppose it must be frustrating for the man if apparently the only thing one has to do is declare under oath that one appreciates Ace’s body.”

Marco gritted his teeth at the reference to his slip-up, Ace exclaimed: “That’s not true! I liked Marco before that!”

“Really?” Marco smirked at him.

That had Ace turn bright red again. “D-don’t pretend like you didn’t know that. And you,” he pointed at Robin, “don’t play all innocent. You made him say it.”

“My, what do you take me for?” she asked, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Marco thought she might get along well with Izo considering her manipulating tendencies.

“So, why did you keep it a secret?” Franky asked. “Or does it happen that often that you’re almost killed that it’s not special anymore?” he added grinning.

Marco smirked at him, but said: “Not really. Let’s just say I prefer to keep it quiet, as I have a… rather overprotective family.”

Ace snorted at that. He had only seen a glimpse of the over protectiveness Marco was capable of, or so he heard, and he had no doubt his family wouldn’t be any different.

* * *

They ordered dessert. Ace couldn’t choose, so he ended up ordering three different ones and made Marco order the fourth kind he liked. In the meantime, most of the other guest had already left, including Garp and the station manager. Ace couldn’t say he wasn’t relieved at that.

When they had finished their dessert – except for Brook and Robin, who still enjoyed their tea and coffee respectively – Sanji approached to bring the bill over.

Franky picked it up, whistling when he saw the total. “That’s some amount. We agreed on going Dutch, right? Good news, honey, we don’t have to pay.”

Robin chuckled, but Nami exclaimed indignantly: “Eh? Why don’t _they_ have to pay?”

“I struck a deal with Sanji-bro.” Franky winked.

Nami turned around in her seat, looking up to Sanji with her big, beautiful brown eyes. “Ah, Sanji-kun~ Do I have to pay?” She pushed her bosom up a little further.

Sanji swooned. “Of course not, Nami-swan!”

Ace considered taking his dick out, but he doubted Sanji would ever appreciate something like that. Or anyone at the table. Well, Marco and Vivi had already seen him naked, as did Nami, but he wasn’t sure they would like it either. Marco would probably have a fit, possessive as he was. Ace snickered. Maybe it _was_ a good idea.

“So, Vivi is the only one of the girls who has to pay?” Kohza asked sharply, interrupting his thoughts.

“Of course you don’t have to, my beautiful princess~” Sanji fawned over the blue haired woman.

Nami snorted. “Please, she could pay the entire bill. She’s loaded.”

“So are you, miser,” Ace mixed into the conversation. Nami always tried to get out of paying bills, but he had seen a bank current account statement. She was rich. Still, he received a hit in the head by Sanji.

“Don’t you talk to her like that!”

Brook took a sip of his tea. “I wish I had a bosom, so I wouldn’t have to pay either. But alas, I’m hardly more than bones as it is! Yohoho!”

It ended in a fierce discussion of who would pay the bill and whether or not Sanji was stupid, as soon as Zoro mixed in the conversation. Luffy ended up joining in too, because apparently it was “fun”.

Eventually, Sanji’s eyebrow started to twitch and he slammed his fist on the table. “Will you shut up, you damn pirates?!”

It stayed quiet for a moment, until Marco, who had tried to stay out of the discussion for the most part, suddenly burst out into laughter. He couldn’t help it. Out of all the comparisons he could have made, Sanji chose for calling them pirates, like people tended to call him and his brothers. And as they called themselves as well. He looked up and saw Ace grin, but whether that was because he got the joke or because Marco may or may not have just snorted, Marco didn’t know.

All eyes landed on him and he desperately tried to calm down.

“I’m sorry, family joke,” he muttered a little embarrassed.

Sanji shook his head. “Well, I don’t care who pays, but no one is leaving until this is taken care off.” He tapped on the piece of paper lying on the table.

“Put it on my card.”

Marco looked up at Shanks, who was holding out his credit card towards Sanji. Shanks met his look and grinned.

“Are you sure?” Sanji asked and handed Shanks the bill.

Shanks took a few seconds to look it over and then grabbed his hair. “Good grief, what the hell have you been eating?” His glance lingered on Ace for a moment, but then he shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’d like to pay for Benn and me as well.”

“Thank you, Shanks, you’re a lifesaver,” Nami said, fluttering her eyelashes.

Shanks waved and followed Sanji to the cash desk.

Marco didn’t have to look to the side to know Ace was pouting again. He decided to ignore it, though, and turned to Nami as they made ready to leave. “Do you need a ride again?”

“No, thank you. Vivi will bring me home,” she answered. “I’ll be going to my own apartment, anyway, and, if Luffy behaves, he is allowed to come over.”

Ace snickered a little. Nami usually hung out at their place, as she accused Luffy of making a mess of everything – rightly so – so staying over at her place had become some kind of reward, and Luffy was always excited about it. Besides, Ace was a little relieved. Like himself, his brother didn’t like to be alone, so if Nami went to her own place alone, Ace felt obligated to go to their house, instead of Marco’s. And he was kind of hoping that the night would end in a pleasurable manner, something he didn’t dare to do in the same house as Luffy was, as there was a fairly good chance of him bursting into Ace’s room halfway through because they sounded “mysterious”. Ace preferred not to scar his brother for life or humiliate himself.

Now, there was no problem, though.

Ace and his friends rose to say goodbye, and Ace hugged Vivi in parting. She smiled at him when he let go, but then flicked his nose. “Now stop being a jealous idiot, alright?”

Her tone indicated that she wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he nodded while rubbing the painful spot. After having said goodbye to the rest and waving at Sanji and Zoro, he took Marco’s extended hand and let himself be led outside.

Ace spotted Shanks leaning against a car just outside the exit. Next to him was Benn, smoking a cigar. Ace tried to usher Marco past them, but they had already been spotted. Shanks smirked at them. “I hope you enjoyed your meal. After all, you ate for free.”

“That was very generous of you,” Marco answered, his gaze fixed on Shanks.

Shanks shrugged. “I figured it was the least I could do after forgetting my wallet on our dates so often. Besides, it’s my way to congratulate you on your relationship. If I’d known you guys were so cute together, I would have set you up on a date myself.” He winked at Ace.

Ace wrapped his arms tightly around Marco and looked suspiciously at Shanks.

Marco sighed. He was getting a little tired of Ace’s behaviour. Deciding it was enough, he pushed Ace against the wall of the restaurant and kissed him like his life depended on it. Ace gasped in shock, which Marco took full advantage of.

Finally, he released Ace, turning around and saying to Benn like he didn’t just kiss his boyfriend senseless: “How are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you since…”

“Since my brother’s funeral. I’m fine, though.”

“What about the girl?”

“Rika is doing fine. She’s getting out of her shell.” Benn took a final drag from his cigar and threw the butt on the ground, stomping it out. “We should go pick her up anyway. I’m not leaving her a second longer with your friends than necessary.” The last remark was directed at Shanks.

Shanks snickered. “I told you, it’ll be fine. Well, bye Marco, Ace.” He thought for a moment. “I guess I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”

Ace finally snapped out of his daze caused by Marco’s sudden kiss and looked confused from one to the other. “What’s in a couple of weeks?”

Shanks, who had just opened the door to the passenger’s seat of Benn’s car, stopped what he was doing and smirked. “Marco’s birthday, of course.”

“It’s your birthday?” Ace exclaimed, hitting Marco against the arm.

Marco rubbed the painful spot. “October fifth. I’m surprised my brothers haven’t invited you already.”

Shanks snickered. “Well, I’ll see you then, geezer. No way I’m missing a Whitebeard party!” With that, he dove into the car, barely avoiding Marco’s wrath.

Marco watched the vehicle drive off and sighed. He felt a nudge in his ribs. Looking to the side, he noticed Ace eyeing him curiously. “So, your birthday, huh?”

“It’s not just mine we’re celebrating. Izo’s birthday is on the thirteenth, and as it’s hard to get everyone together more than once a month, we usually celebrate the birthdays that are close together at the same time,” Marco explained. “And this time we’ll include Rakuyo’s and Curiel’s as well, since theirs was last month, but then Curiel was on a mission. So, four at the same time.”

Ace’s eyes started to shine as they walked to Marco’s car. “That must be one hell of a party.”

During the drive home, they didn’t speak, but as Marco pulled up on his driveway, Ace asked carefully: “So, how old will you be then?”

Marco observed him for a while. Suddenly, however, he leaned in and grazed with his teeth against the skin of Ace’s neck. Ace gasped in surprise for the second time, his fingers entwining with the blond strands. “You… You didn’t answer my question,” he managed to bring out.

Marco gently bit his earlobe and pulled at it a little. “I’m distracting you,” he said in a husky voice. “Is it working?”

Ace’s head fell back and he let Marco have his way with him. “Yes,” he finally said hoarsely.

“Good.” Marco sat up and climbed out of the car, smirking when Ace made a disappointed noise.

Inside, they ended up watching some detective show. Ace lay curled up against Marco, and the latter was sure he had fallen asleep, when Ace suddenly asked: “Can I ask you something?”

“If it’s not my age, sure,” Marco answered with a smirk and gently squeezed Ace’s nose.

“Hm, I don’t know. I kind of liked how that worked out the last time,” Ace answered teasing, but then his face got serious again.

“What is it then?” Marco asked when Ace didn’t make an attempt to continue and put the television on mute.

Ace squirmed a little uncomfortable. “I was just wondering… When you were with Shanks… Which one of you topped?” He stared at his toes, refusing to meet Marco’s eyes.

Marco raised an eyebrow. “We switched. Why do you want to know?”

“’Cause I…” Ace played with the fabric of his pants – his tie, jacket and shirt he had taken off as soon as they entered the house – still evading eye contact. “’Cause I never topped with a man before, and I always wanted to try, but usually my relationships only last one night. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind bottoming, I enjoy it a lot, but it would be nice to try something different, you know? And then there was Smoker, but I could hardly ask him that, could I? I mean, he isn’t really the type to do that. So, I was just wondering–”

Ace’s rant, in which he took no time to breathe, was interrupted by Marco pressing his lips against Ace’s. When they parted, Ace was flustered, but finally made eye contact. Marco caressed some black strands from his face. “Sure,” he said.

Ace perked up. “Really?” But then his face turned doubtful. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Smiling, Marco got up and held out his hand. “Come on, then.”

Ace’s face split in a grin and he sprinted up the stairs, passing Marco. When Marco reached the bedroom, Ace was already struggling to get his pants off.

Marco stood behind him, pulling him flush against him. Ace let his head fall back against Marco’s shoulder, while Marco ran his hands up his legs. Ace pushed his ass back and felt the bulge in Marco’s pants through the fabric. His fingers slid through the blond strands, and Ace said: “You get this turned on the prospect of being fucked?”

Marco let his hand run over Ace’s muscular legs and then against his erection. “Hm, it’s rather the idea that you haven’t done that to another man.”

“Yeah? You like that I’m a virgin in that aspect?” Ace teased, only to be immediately spun around and shut up by a pair of hungry lips.

Ace decided that he no longer wanted to be the only naked person in the room and pushed Marco’s jacket off his shoulders. After that, he loosened his tie, but ended up in a fight with it when it wasn’t coming off. Marco chuckled at Ace’s desperate attempts to win and helped him out. The articles of clothing were disregarded on the floor one by one, until Marco was equally naked.

Excitedly, Ace pushed Marco onto the bed and crawled on top of him, kissing him fervently. Marco’s hands caressed the flawless skin, feeling Ace’s rock hard abs beneath it. Force of habit made him grab Ace’s ass. In the weeks they were together, Marco had always been the one to top. They hadn’t discussed it, and Marco had assumed Ace was fine with it. Personally, he wasn’t a fan of bottoming, but the idea of being Ace’s first – the first guy anyway, he decided not to think of all the girls Ace may have slept with – was very appealing. That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t appreciate Ace’s ass – he did and very much so.

Ace let out a moan, grinding his hips down while he started to assault Marco’s neck. He loved the way Marco worshipped his body every time they got naked. He didn’t mind that he was always the one bottoming, Marco was always very thorough when it came to pleasing him, but Ace was excited about having the roles reversed. He was sure that Marco wouldn’t have agreed so easily their first time – seeing how much effort it had taken Ace to convince him in the first place, although after he had suggested Marco would fuck him, it had gone considerably faster. In any case, Marco showed him a great deal of trust right now, and he would not let Marco down.

Ace moved down, leaving kisses across Marco’s chest, until he reached a blond trail of hair. Nuzzling in the short strands, Ace suddenly remembered that in his excitement he had forgotten about something. He would have to prepare Marco, which meant he needed lube and, considering that it probably had been a long time since Marco had let anyone do that to him – Ace would bet a lot that Shanks had been the last – lots of it.

He moved up again in the same manner, pausing to kiss Marco’s lips before he leaned over to the nightstand and pulled out the small bottle of lube. Then he moved back again and continued kissing Marco. A while ago, they had forgotten about using a condom, but had only realised that in hindsight, being too caught up in the moment. Marco had cursed himself for being so stupid – as he felt he was the responsible one – and Ace slightly panicked, since he had always been very careful with sleeping around. They had gotten themselves tested the next day, but after they received the news that they were both clean, they had decided the condom wasn’t really necessary anymore, especially since it had been the best sex either of them had had before.

Ace moved back to the position he had been in before, nuzzling back in Marco’s happy trail with his nose. Marco propped himself up on his elbows to watch. Ace shot him a grin, before he let his tongue run up Marco’s rock hard member. Marco’s head fell back, enjoying the sensation of having Ace’s skilled mouth around him. Ace hadn’t done that since they were at the beach, though this time, Marco was aware that Ace was distracting him, and he braced himself for what was to come.

Ace uncapped the bottle of lube in his hand and let the content spill over his fingers. He was a little nervous about proceeding. What if Marco changed his mind? Shaking off his fears, Ace pressed one finger against Marco’s entrance and peered up carefully. Marco didn’t respond, other than breathing heavily and that could be blamed on Ace’s mouth, which hadn’t stopped moving. Taking a deep breath through his nose and swallowing him whole, Ace pressed his first finger in.

He heard Marco hiss, but again, he wasn’t sure what caused it. Ace couldn’t help but feel excited now that he was inside of Marco. It was definitely tight, but, soon, Marco seemed to relax, and Ace could move his finger. The thought that soon another body part would be in there thrilled Ace to no end. Moving his head up so that only the tip of Marco’s cock was in his mouth, he sucked hard and pushed another digit in. He felt Marco tense up and arch his back a little. Ace gave a few reassuring licks to his member and waited a moment before moving his fingers again.

The waiting was agonising, but he knew he had to be thorough, not in the least because Marco always made sure it wouldn’t hurt before he pushed in. Still, the fear that Marco might change his mind wouldn’t let him go. On the other hand, Ace told himself, if he didn’t do it right and hurt Marco, he might never let Ace top again. Content with that conclusion, he carefully started to make a scissoring motion with his fingers.

A soft moan reached his ears and, relieved, he realised that Marco was enjoying himself. A thought suddenly hit Ace. Would Marco, usually so stoic, be able to hold back when he hit his prostate? Suiting the action to the word, he moved his fingers around, curling them back until he had found the bundle of nerves he was looking for. Marco’s hips jerked up and a moan escaped his lips. Ace pulled his head back just in time. He grinned like mad when he saw Marco’s face. His features were pure bliss, and he had his eye screwed shut, a smile on his lips.

Ace’s initial victory faded when he realised how arousing Marco looked right now. His neglected cock twitched, demanding attention. He really had to hurry up the preparation phase, or else he was sure he would explode. Fortunately, Marco seemed to sense his need, as he propped himself back up on his elbows – at some point he had let himself fall on his back on the bed – and said in a voice that screamed sex: “That’s enough of that.”

Ace almost dove immediately on top of him, but had just the presence of mind to ask if Marco was sure. In answer, Marco pulled him close. Eagerly, Ace kissed back. A soft thud caught his attention, however, and he cursed under his breath when he realised that had to be the lube that had fallen to the floor. Pulling away, he leaned over the edge of the bed to get it, giving Marco a nice view of his ass.

Amused, Marco leaned back on the mattress. “Careful now, you’re in a very tempting position.”

Ace, who had just picked up the bottle, wiggled his ass suggestively. “Maybe you can have it, if you’re up for a round two.” With that, he launched himself on top of Marco, who laughed at his eagerness, but returned his kisses with equal enthusiasm.

Ace heard the bottle of lube uncap again and realised that it wasn’t in his hand anymore. A sudden cold, slick sensation came into contact with his erection, and he hissed in surprise. A large hand enclosed around his member and started to move up and down. Ace met the motion with small jerks of his hips, in the meantime never ceasing to kiss Marco. Moaning softly against his lips, Ace felt the hand leaving him. At first, he was disappointed at the lack of contact, but then he realised what would happen next.

Marco lay back down on the mattress, waiting for Ace to make his move. He would prefer to do what Ace usually did when their positions were reversed, namely riding him, but he didn’t trust his back enough not to start hurting again if he did. So he would have to let Ace take the control. Not that he didn’t trust him; as much as Marco liked to deny it, Ace had slept with girls, so he had at least some experience.

Ace positioned himself between Marco’s legs, pushing them up gently and letting his hands slide up until they reached the hollow of the knee. Then he finally pushed in.

He was barely as far as the tip of his cock, when he was overwhelmed by the heat and the tightness. Doubling over, he buried his face in the crook of Marco’s neck.

Marco caressed his hair. “Easy,” he muttered. “Just relax.”

Ace lifted his face, his cheeks bright red from arousal. “I’m supposed to tell you that,” he said, panting.

Marco just smiled at him and waited until Ace was ready to proceed.

When he was finally fully sheathed, Ace looked up at Marco. “You ready?” he asked hoarsely. When Marco nodded, Ace slowly started to move. He was still overwhelmed by the heat and – more importantly – the fact that this was actually happening, but he managed to start a rhythm at an even pace.

Ace kept a close eye on Marco’s face. Initially, Marco had closed his eyes, but now opened them, and blue met dark. Leaning in, Ace kissed Marco’s lips, moving in rhythm with his thrusts.

Everything felt so good. Being inside Marco, Marco’s arms wrapped around him, the slow but steady movements of their lips… There was only one thing missing. Ace changed his angle a little, and, suddenly, Marco’s facial expression changed in pure bliss as a moan fell from his lips. Ace smirked. There it was.

Though he didn’t want things to end too soon, he also wanted Marco to enjoy this as much as possible. Keeping the angle the same and hitting Marco’s prostate over and over, he reached between them and wrapped his hand around Marco’s cock. Again, Marco made a sound that qualified as a moan, as he started to meet Ace’s thrusts with careful jerks of his hips.

Ace was panting heavily and he felt like his face – and his entire body for that matter – was on fire. He knew he wasn’t going to last long, but he was determined to make Marco come first. He sped up the pace of his hand. Soon, he felt the muscles of Marco’s body tense up, and it didn’t take long for Marco to come all over his own and Ace’s stomach. Pleased with himself, Ace realised that he had overlooked one thing as Marco tightened around him. Seeing stars, Ace couldn’t hold back any longer and collapsed on top of his lover.

It took him a while to realise that someone was caressing his hair. Ace lifted his head a little and saw Marco staring lazily back at him. “Enjoyed yourself?” Marco asked with an amused smirk.

Ace nodded, before pushing himself up laboriously and letting himself fall beside Marco. “Did you?”

“Yes.” Marco pulled him close and kissed his forehead. “So, what did you say about round two?”


	21. Chapter 21

Panting, Ace rolled off Marco. He was exhausted, as round two had been quite intense, but very much satisfying. He lay down next to Marco and grinned at him when he saw he was in a similar state. Ace crawled against Marco, planting a lazy kiss on his shoulder. “So,” he said, still sounding a little hoarse, partly because of his exclamations during the sex, “would this be a good time to ask you more about your past?” He could feel Marco tense up next to him. “I’ll take that as a no. I just thought, Gramps isn’t here…”

“I should hope so,” Marco replied dryly. “I don’t think he would appreciate what we just did. Twice.” He sat up against the headboard and sighed. “I don’t really like to talk about it, but I promised you, so I’ll answer your questions.”

Ace sat up as well. “Alright.” He thought for a moment. “So, you did illegal things?”

“I wouldn’t have to change my last name if I hadn’t, right?” Marco responded with a wry smile.

“What was your last name?”

But Marco shook his head. “That’s the one question I won’t answer. I’m sorry, but I owe many people for being able to get a legal job and leave the past, or part of it, behind. I can’t disclose that.”

Ace was a little disappointed, but nodded. Suddenly, he realised something. “Wait, what do you mean, part of it? Are you still doing those things?”

“Like I said, I won’t hesitate to go back again if my brothers need me. But most of them have cleaned up their act as well. But…” His blue eyes were sad, and he stared in the distance. “Some things never let you go.”

Ace swallowed. “Things… like what?”

Marco covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head.

Ace was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to know everything about Marco, but it seemed like Marco would rather forget about it. And Ace had his own secrets, after all. One of them haunted him as well, and he would have to tell Marco about it if he spilled all his own secrets. But then Marco would hate him, just like anyone who knew, aside from Luffy of course. He had kept it a secret all his life.

Ace’s father was his biggest secret. The whole world despised that man, that criminal and murderer. Ace hated him too, even though they had never met. Everyone knew Roger Gol’s name and everyone detested the man. And, in extension to that, Ace himself, even if they didn’t know who he was. They hated the child they didn’t know Roger had.

It was because of that that he was partly relieved to hear that Marco didn’t have such a clean slate himself, but on the other hand, he dreaded Marco might be like his father. So, deciding to leave the subject rest, he needed to ask one more question.

“Marco?” He couldn’t stop his voice from quivering.

Marco looked up, his eyes looking sad. Ace hated himself for making him look like that, but he needed to know. Swallowing hard, he bit his lip before he managed to force out the question: “Have you ever killed someone?”

Marco looked at him shocked, but soon averted his eyes. “Yes,” he whispered. It was hardly audible, but still it felt like he had shouted it, the room felt that silent.

Ace sat frozen on the bed, his heart racing. He had feared the answer. Digging his nails in the mattress, he forced himself to look up.

The sight he was met with was not what he had been expecting. Marco’s face was torn by grief and regret, his hand entangled with his hair. “I didn’t mean to,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “I tried to prevent it, but…”

Ace’s limbs listened to him again and he wrapped his arms around the distressed Marco, holding him tight. “I’m sorry,” he heard Marco whisper. He kissed his temple, caressing his back. This man was nothing like his father.

Carefully, he took Marco’s face between his hands, trying to make eye contact. He kissed him intensely and, much to his relief, he noticed Marco kissing him back, Marco tightening his hold on him.

“I’m sorry,” Ace said earnestly when they let go of each other. “I won’t pry again, I promise.”

Suddenly, he was pinned under Marco, who buried his face in the crook of his neck.

“Please don’t hate me.”

“I’ll never hate you,” Ace said reassuringly in his ear. “I could never hate you.”

Marco didn’t respond, but didn’t let go either.

* * *

The next morning, Marco was his usual self again, aside from a slight limp, and neither of them spoke of his break down. Ace was curious who Marco had killed and how it happened, but he had promised not to pry again. It had been awful seeing the usual stoic Marco breaking down. He struggled with what had happened and he obviously felt horrible about it. At least knowing this reassured Ace; Marco was nothing like his father.

The nagging feeling that he should tell Marco who had begotten him wouldn’t go away, though. Maybe Marco would understand? But everyone he had ever talked with had thought that it would have been better if Roger had never had a child. That it would have been better if he were never born. When he was younger, he had believed that and even now he had decided to live for his friends. His own life may not matter, but those of his friends did.

They really needed him too in the two weeks that past, especially Zoro and Sanji. After finally admitting to his feelings, Sanji had given in and started a relationship with Zoro. But after nasty car accident – which wasn’t an accident – Zoro had lapsed into a coma. It all ended well, with the real culprit who burned down the Baratie, for which Ace had been to jail, was caught, though Zoro ended up losing an eye, and Sanji had broken his leg.

After these hectic weeks, things were finally back to normal, and Ace had time again to worry about whether or not he should tell Marco about his father. Aside from that, he also had to come up with a birthday present for him. Marco still hadn’t told him his real age, and, somehow, Ace doubted he would find out any time soon.

Still, the father-thing wouldn’t let him go. After all, he would be meeting Marco’s dad soon. Personally, he didn’t have that good experience with fathers and he had never seen Garp as a replacement dad or anything, but Marco really seemed to have a high opinion of the man he called Pops.

Ace made a decision.

* * *

It was a rainy afternoon a couple of days before his birthday, when the doorbell suddenly rang. Marco frowned. He was just about to take a bath; the water was already running. Considering ignoring it, he sighed and rejected that thought. It was his own fault for wanting to relax on his day off, after all. He put on his bathrobe and made for the door.

On his doorstep stood a very wet Ace. He seemed absent-minded, his shirt clinging to his torso in a very distracting manner.

Tearing his eyes from the well-defined muscles that showed through, Marco asked: “Ace, are you alright?”

Dark eyes looked up for a moment, but Ace immediately cast them down again, gripping his elbow with one hand. “Can we talk?”

Frowning, Marco pulled him inside. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t about to let it ruin his bath. “Come on,” he said, as he dragged Ace to the bathroom.

Closing the door behind them and wondering a bit about Ace’s lack of comment or struggle, he shrugged off his bathrobe and sat down in the hot water. “Come on,” he repeated, gesturing to the vacant spot on the other side of the bath.

After a moment of hesitation, Ace started to peel off his wet clothes. Noticing Marco’s eyes that were glued to his body with every inch of skin that became visible, Ace became a bit his old self again and slowly and seductively removed his – very few – layers of clothes.

Marco smiled when Ace looked up with a cocky smirk as soon as he was naked, and watched Ace lower himself in the hot water. It was a good thing he knew Ace didn’t mind the heat, as Marco always took rather hot baths.

They sat in silence for a while, both enjoying the warm water. Then, finally, Marco asked: “Ace, what’s going on?”

Ace wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at the water. “I’m a hypocrite,” he said hardly audible.

Frowning, Marco moved forward and pushed Ace’s chin up with one hand. “What are you talking about?”

“I reproached you for not being honest with me,” Ace whispered, still evading eye contact. “While there is something I haven’t told you either.” Finally, his eyes flicked up. “Something important.”

Panic started to bubble up inside Marco’s head. What could Ace want to tell him? Had he cheated on him? Had Ace done illegal things as well?

Ace looked up, his eyes sad. “I’ve never told you about my parents.”

“I assumed you didn’t know who they were,” Marco said, remembering how Ace told him on their first date that he was an orphan.

Ace leaned back in the bathtub. “I do. Portgas is my mother’s name. She died shortly after my birth. My father, however,” he swallowed thickly and looked down, “my father was called Roger. Roger Gol.”

Marco stayed silent, letting the words sink in. Everyone had heard about Roger Gol. He had been a notorious criminal, locked away for theft, murder, manslaughter, and the list went on. Marco remembered that his father had not been so sure about Roger’s guilt, having known him, and when Roger died under suspicious circumstances – some theories said that the guards had killed him, others spoke of a suicide – Edward Newgate had been shocked and outraged. Marco had never seen his father like that before, or after that one time for that matter.

There had been rumours going around that Roger left an heir, but Marco doubted even Pops knew if they were true. And now it turned out that said heir was sitting with him in the bathtub.

He realised he had been quiet for too long, as Ace’s face had gone pale, and he seemed about ready to jump out of bath and run off. Quickly, Marco moved forward and wrapped his arms around Ace, pulling him close. Ace was tense, so Marco started to rub soothing circles on his back.

When Ace relaxed a little, Marco took his freckled face between his hands. “I don’t care who you parents are,” he said earnestly.

“You sure about that?” Ace asked sceptically. “You know who Roger Gol is?”

“Of course I do. Pops talked about him, sometimes. They were acquainted somehow.”

Ace’s eyes widened. “Your Pops knew my biological father?!”

Marco nodded, and Ace gripped at his own hair.

“I hate him,” he whispered. “Roger. Everyone thinks it would have been better if I never had been born…”

Marco grabbed Ace’s wrists and, in the blink of an eye, he had pinned Ace against the back of the tub, uncaring about the water that spilled over the edge. “Don’t ever say that again!” Marco all but yelled.

Ace stared up at him in shock, but, swallowing thickly, he nodded.

Marco slowly let go of him and caressed his face. “Please don’t talk like that. I don’t care who you parents are, and neither do my brothers. We’re a family. I care about you, Ace, and so do they. Regardless of who you descend from.”

Ace clung to him, and Marco could feel him tremble. Letting his fingers slide through the dark strands, Marco mumbled in his ear: “I’ll never judge you for things you don’t have control over. Your parents don’t make you who you are; you decide your own path.”

Ace looked up, finding his lover’s lips. “Thank you,” he whispered. “You have no idea what this means to me…”

Marco slowly rocked to and fro with Ace in his arms. “Pops is going to love you. There is no need to worry about that.”

* * *

Ace smiled when he felt lips pressed against his head, and, instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the neck of the owner of said lips, ready to pull him back into bed.

Marco chuckled. “Come on. We need to go to court.”

That had Ace open his eyes. Marco was right, today was Johnson’s trial, and they both had to testify. Groaning, he let go of Marco and rolled over to look at the time on his phone. He really had to get up. Giving Marco a quick kiss and wishing him good morning, Ace made his way to the bathroom.

After Ace’s confession the night before, they had stayed in the bath until the water had gone cold, and Marco had never let go of him.

After they had dried themselves off, Marco had made dinner. They ended up watching a movie that night, while they fooled around. They hadn’t even had sex, but still Ace felt oddly happy and he had a tingly feeling inside, which he couldn’t remember having before. He couldn’t say he didn’t like it. Marco accepted him no matter what.

After Ace had dressed himself and they had eaten breakfast, Marco drove them to court. It was quite a fuss to get inside. They had to identify themselves, go through a metal detector, and they were searched by security guards – Ace noticed that Marco looked suspiciously at the man who searched Ace.

When they were finally allowed inside, they had to report themselves to the usher. They had to wait in a room until they would be called.

As the victim, Marco was the first to be summoned. The procedure was the same as with his other cases he had been called to as an expert-witness, but now he had a different role, he felt a little weird. The charge against Johnson was attempt-to-manslaughter, and a sentence of eight years in prison had been demanded by the public prosecutor. Like with Ace’s trial – and any trial with a demanded sentence for longer than a year in prison – there were three judges present. As Marco took a seat and swore he would tell the truth, his eyes flicked over to the table next to him, where Johnson was seated with his lawyer. The former shot him a hateful glare, and Marco had trouble not to scoff. It wasn’t exactly his fault Johnson was here now.

Focusing on the questions that were posed, he started to relate what had happened the night of the assault. It was on the second real date he had with Ace – though he didn’t feel the need to share that with the judges – and he was crossing the street by foot, when a car suddenly pulled up and tried to run him over. He didn’t know the colour of the car, nor had he seen the driver.

“How did you manage to avoid the vehicle?” the public prosecutor asked.

Marco’s eyes flicked over to the defendant’s table. “My boyfriend has great reflexes,” he answered, managing to keep a straight face when he noticed Johnson stiffen. “He pushed me out of the way.”

“Did you obtain any injury from this encounter?”

“Only stitches in my hand.”

The public prosecutor had nothing further to ask, so he gave the floor to the lawyer of Johnson. The man rose, stroking his enormous black beard. “Mr Fenwick,” he started, “you stated that you did not see the driver of the car, correct?”

“I didn’t see him,” Marco responded. He wondered where the lawyer would go with this.

“So, you did not see my client in the car?”

Marco sighed. “No.”

“Mr Fenwick, do you know my client?”

“He’s a firefighter that works at the same station as I do,” Marco answered wary. He was dreading where this was going.

“Have you ever spoken to him?”

“Not often.” Marco chose his words carefully.

“So, you have. And is it true then, that several months ago, you assaulted him?” the lawyer asked.

“No.”

“Really? You didn’t attack him after he threatened to expose you for violating a co-worker in his sleep?” the bearded lawyer asked accusingly.

“No,” Marco said sharply. “I did not attack him, and I did not violate a co-worker! I used to be a fireman myself, and in the station I used to work you couldn’t fall asleep in the public area without being pranked. I didn’t know how it worked at this station, as I just had started working there, so I brought my colleague, who had fallen asleep in the public area, to the sleeping quarters.”

“And then you violated him?”

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. I kissed him on the forehead.”

“Mr Gode, does this line of questioning have a point?” one of the judges, called Doberman, asked a little bored. “Mr Fenwick is not on trial.”

“I’m just trying to prove that Mr Fenwick isn’t the harmless victim he appears,” Gode defended himself.

“He does not claim that he even saw Mr Johnson at the time of the assault. And I know very few people who could stop a moving car.” Judge Yamakaji gestured with his hand “Next witness!”

A little relieved, Marco got up from the chair and took a seat in the audience. That could have ended ugly, though it had nothing to do with the case. The day Johnson called him out on his behaviour towards the sleeping Ace, Johnson had insulted his family, and he had snapped. It was sneaky to bring it up now and make him look bad. Fortunately, that Gode hadn’t done his homework too well and found out things about his past. Or maybe he had, but they would not be brought to light in this courtroom.

Ace was called as the next witness. As he passed Marco, Ace turned his head and winked, swaying his hips more than necessary as he took a seat on the chair Marco had previously occupied. Just as Marco, he had to swear to tell the truth and state his name. After that, the public prosecutor asked him what happened the night in question. Ace thought for a moment and then started to tell: “Well, we were going to see a movie–”

“Who is ‘we’?” the prosecutor interrupted him.

“Me and Marco, of course,” Ace said like that was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Mr Fenwick? So you were previously acquainted?”

Ace cocked his head a little. “Seeing that we were on a date, I’d say so.”

Marco cringed a bit, not because of the revelation of the date, but because using cynicism in a courtroom was probably not the best way to go.

Ace continued: “Anyway, I had already crossed the street, but before Marco could, the lights turned red, so he had to wait. When the crossing lights turned green again, I ran towards him while he was crossing the street, to hurry him up, you know. We were already late for the movie, which was technically my fault for falling asleep, but is he had woken me up sooner–”

“Mr Portgas, please stay to the point,” the third judge, called Strawberry, urged him.

“Sorry. When I ran towards him, I suddenly saw a car nearing, so I pushed Marco out of the way.”

“Did you see the colour of the car?”

Ace thought for a moment. “I think it was red.”

“Did you see the driver?”

After Ace had given a negative answer, the public prosecutor said he had no further questions, and Gode got up to speak.

“Mr Portgas, my client is your colleague, correct? Were you friends?”

“He was supposed to be my friend,” Ace snapped, and Marco really hoped Ace could control his temper.

“As friends, do you know what kind of car Mr Johnson drives?”

“A red Volvo.”

“Yet you did not recognise the car.”

“I was a little busy doing something else, namely, saving my boyfriend! Besides, I hardly expected Johnson to be there,” Ace said accusingly. “I _thought_ he was my friend.”

“Have you ever considered he might have wanted to protect you?” Gode continued.

Ace looked up confused. “Protect me? From what? And how would he do that by trying to kill Marco?”

“You are not aware that Mr Fenwick assaulted you in your sleep several months ago?”

Ace looked back to where Marco was sitting, looking confused.

“Mr Gode, we already established this,” judge Strawberry said.

“Whether or not Mr Fenwick crossed a line is a matter for discussion at another time. But my client _thought_ that he was sexually assaulting his friend…”

Marco fought the urge to walk up to Gode and punch him in the face. He was doing everything to make Marco look like the bad guy by twisting the facts. He could only hope Ace would allow him the time to explain himself.

Much to his relief, Ace jumped up. “That’s bullshit! Even if what you are saying is true, which I highly doubt, you think that’s an excuse for attempt to _kill_ him? Johnson should have told me, and _I_ would have dealt with it the way I saw fit!”

“But if you were in an abusive relationship–”

“Abusive relationship? I’m very happy with my relationship, thank you very much, which is, as far as I recall, _my business_!” Ace all but yelled.

“Mr Fenwick has assaulted my client when he called him out on violating you,” Mr Gode said with a straight face.

Marco’s breathing became heavy and he clenched his fist. That Gode was a sly bastard.

“That’s crap!” Ace slammed his hand on the table. “I don’t care what kind of excuses Johnson makes up for doing what he did. Fact is that he only did it because he was jealous I chose Marco over him!”

The sound of a chair falling over echoed through the room when Johnson jumped up. “And tell me I’m wrong! He gives you one compliment, and you let him fuck you? When the bed of that cop isn’t even cold?”

Yamakaji hammered on his desk. “Mr Gode! Control your client!”

Gode tried to talk soothingly, but Scorpion was outraged. “You’re nothing more than a cheap whore!”

“Mr Johnson, if you don’t behave, we will have you removed!” the judge threatened.

Finally, Johnson sat down, albeit reluctant.

“Mr Gode, continue,” Strawberry said.

Gode cleared his throat. “Mr Portgas, would you say you lose your temper easily?”

“I’ve been told I can be hot-headed,” Ace muttered.

“Did you punch my client in his face upon arrest?”

Ace straightened. “I believe you’ll find in the police report it was self-defence.”

“Liar!” Scorpion jumped up again, despite Gode’s warnings. “You’re in league with that cop! What, you still let him do you, aside from your so-called boyfriend? Or rather, you let them do you at the same time. I bet you like that, you slut!”

“That’s it. Guards, remove the defendant!” Doberman gestured to Scorpion. Two large men grabbed the outraged Johnson underneath his arms, but still they had trouble taking him away. The colourful string of names Scorpion Johnson called Ace only stopped when the doors to the courtroom shut.

“We will resume this hearing tomorrow at nine.” After Yamakaji had slammed on the desk with his mallet, the judges left the room.

Ace stood up and walked over to Marco, who was waiting in the aisle for him.

“Are you okay?” Marco asked worriedly as they made their way outside.

Ace nodded and smiled wryly. “Johnson really screwed himself over, didn’t he?”

“I highly doubt the judges will judge in his favour,” Marco agreed.

Ace remained silent, chewing his lip thoughtfully. “Marco? What did they mean that you sexually assaulted me in my sleep?”

Marco rolled his eyes. “It was after you had your fight with Captain Smoker. When I came back to the station, you had fallen asleep in the public area, so I brought you to the sleeping quarters.”

“That was you? I was wondering how that happened! I couldn’t remember going there,” Ace said pensive. “So, that’s it?”

“Well,” Marco continued hesitantly, “not just that. I may have stared at you for a while, stroked your hair and gave you a kiss on the forehead.” He carefully looked at Ace.

Ace burst out laughing. “That’s it? They made it sound like you at least groped me. I mean, it’s a little creepy to watch me sleep, but the rest is kind of cute.” He pulled Marco in for a kiss. “While we’re confessing anyway, I have one for you.” When Marco waited for him to continue, he said: “When you just worked at the fire station, I wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t in your office, and I kind of snooped around a little. That’s how I got your phone number; you left your phone there.”

“Really now?” Marco raised his eyebrows. “I thought Thatch gave it to you.”

“He did, but by then I already had it.” He wasn’t sure what kind of reaction to expect, but fortunately, Marco didn’t look mad. “You almost caught me, you know. When you came back to get your phone,” Ace added. “I still wonder what you would have done if you had.”

Marco let out a laugh. “Me too.”

They had reached the car and got in.

“So, I guess we’re both stalkers,” Ace said as he fastened his seatbelt.

“So it would seem.”

Ace looked at Marco. “And apparently we liked each other long before we started going out.”

Marco smiled a little as Ace pulled him close and pressed their lips together. Marco’s fingers brushed through the dark strands of his lover, deepening the kiss. Ace let out a happy sigh and tilted his head a little. The kiss became more heated, hands roaming the other’s body.

Finally, Marco pulled away, earning a disappointed growl. “Ace, we’re still at the court building.”

“Then let’s go to your place.” Ace bit his red, swollen lips, distracting Marco momentarily from his task of starting the engine.

He got them to his house in record time, barely locking his car before Ace threw himself at Marco, pinning him against the vehicle. Guiding Ace towards the door, their lips never stopped touching. Marco felt a hand slip inside his pocket, and, after some groping, Ace got out his keys. Ace tried to open the door with his back against the hard surface, failing miserably, and Marco took over. Unlike their first date, Ace was now prepared for the door falling away, clinging to Marco.

Slamming the door shut behind them, Marco threw his keys in a random direction, his jacket and tie soon following. Ace dragged him up the stairs, sucking on Marco’s tongue.

Before Marco knew it, they were both naked on his bed, kissing and nipping on every part of the exposed skin. Somehow, Marco managed to get Ace on his stomach and he was currently kissing and licking at the exposed back. Ace moaned and bent his spine to get more contact.

Marco smirked against his skin. “You’re really sensitive here, aren’t you?”

He got his answer when he bit near Ace’s shoulder blade, and fingers dug in the mattress.

“Marco!” it sounded muffled.

Marco moved so he all but sat on Ace’s ass and let his hands run over the muscular back, massaging the knots he felt. Judging from the sounds Ace made, he was very pleased with the massage.

“You’re tense,” Marco said. “Is that because of the trial? Or because of what you told me last night?”

“Maybe a bit of both,” Ace mumbled and bit in the pillow when Marco hit a particular tense part.

“You know nothing Scorpion or his lawyer said is true, right? You’re not like that.”

Ace sighed, leaning with his chin on his elbow. “I know. And I have been called worse. It’s just… I thought he was my friend. I thought I could trust him. That just shows that whether people know who my father is or not, they’ll just want something from me, and if they don’t, they drop me like a brick.”

“Ace…” Marco caressed his hair, when Ace, still lying beneath him, suddenly turned a bit.

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

Marco had long since convinced himself he wasn’t lying. He was only neglecting to tell the truth. And he would, someday. These thoughts, however, did nothing to easy his guilt.

“No,” he said with a soft smile.

Ace smiled back and sat up, forcing Marco to sit in his lap. “I guess I just need to figure out who my real friends are. There’s you, of course, your brothers, Luffy, Zoro, Vivi…” He listed the people he trusted with his life and then smiled. “Yeah, I’ve got great friends. One less won’t matter.” He let Marco kiss him again.

“Ace.”

Ace hummed to indicate that he listened, while he sucked on Marco’s collarbone.

“Do you think you would have slept with him if he had shown interest?”

Ace stopped what he was doing, leaving a red mark. “You mean Johnson? Maybe… I’ve slept with some of my co-workers, Marco. He knew that, too, so I wonder why you bug him so much. Maybe because we actually have a relationship? I don’t know.” He thought for a moment. “And I don’t care either,” he decided, flicking his eyes up and looking at Marco. “’Cause I only want you.”

Marco kissed him again, pressing him back against the mattress. “I wasn’t that worried, with the bastard going to jail and all.” He took Ace’s face between his hands. “I’ll never let him hurt you again.”

“Me? You’re the one he tried to run over with a car!”

“Well, yeah. But he betrayed you. And I will make anyone pay who hurts you.”

Ace let himself be kissed as he thought. “Marco?”

Marco didn’t stop what he was doing, but stayed clear from Ace’s lips, so he could talk. “Remember that guy that tried to poison me?”

“How could I forget?” Marco growled and bit in the sensitive skin of Ace’s neck.

Distracted, Ace let him do as he pleased, until he remembered he was saying something. “Robin mentioned his trial is coming up too. You wouldn’t have anything to do with his delivery at the police station, would you?”

Marco stopped kissing him and sat up. Ace looked at him questioning, and he had just promised never to lie. So, he sighed and said: “I might have sought him out.”

“And those other people in the car, Thatch and Izo?”

Marco nodded.

“And Rakuyo fixed you the car?”

When Marco confirmed his suspicions once again, he sighed. “But why? You endangered yourself, your brothers. All for me?”

“He tried to kill you.” Marco grabbed Ace’s chin. “And it would be a waste to have the world rid of someone as hot as you,” he added with a smirk.

Ace let out a snort of laughter. “But seriously.”

“I care about you. So do the guys. You didn’t want to jeopardise Smoker, and I couldn't stand just watching him get away with it. So, I decided to do something about it. I know what I’m doing, Ace, and you’re worth it if I get caught.”

“Don’t say such sweet things.” He felt the blood – that hadn’t meanwhile gone south, they were still naked, after all – rush to his cheeks.

“You’re adorable.”

“Am not! Now you’ve ruined the moment!” Pouting, Ace pushed Marco off him and turned his back towards him.

He felt Marco moving and an arm wrapped around his waist. “Don’t be mad. I like it when you blush.”

“I wasn’t blushing.” Ace pulled a pillow over his head.

Marco chuckled, before kissing Ace’s shoulder blade again. Ace leaned in, but just a little, he still felt like punishing Marco. Marco’s lips moved up, to his shoulder, before landing on his neck and jaw. “Come on, let me make it up to you.”

“Okay.” Ace sat up so fast he almost head-butted Marco in the chin and smirked broadly. “Let me top again.”

Marco looked at him with a mixture of surprise and amusement, and chuckled. “You know, you don’t have to ask every time.”

Ignoring the blush creeping up his cheeks again, Ace moved over to the nightstand to retrieve the lube and held the bottle up. “You know, we’re almost out of lube,” he said, smirking, seeing the bottle being almost empty.

“Then I guess we should have less sex,” Marco said, deadpanned.

Ace puffed his cheeks. “We’ll just buy a new bottle tomorrow.”


	22. Chapter 22

Marco woke that morning with Ace draped over his stomach, a position that wasn’t uncommon since the past weeks. He smiled and caressed the dark strands as Ace muttered something in his sleep and nestled into a more comfortable position. More comfortable for him, that is, as it didn’t do much for Marco.

Absentmindedly, his hand slid lower, to Ace’s back. Last night had been fun, like every night with Ace had been. It seemed so long ago he had resolved not sleeping with him, but after that first night that Ace had seduced him, it was fair to say he couldn’t go without it anymore. Not that he was addicted, but he loved making Ace feel good and the way their bodies moved in rhythm.

Even during the first time, they had felt each other perfectly. Marco knew what he was doing was wrong, he had known that ever since he failed to make Ace want to stop dating him. But looking down at the sleeping form of Ace, how could he not? His heartbeat sped up when Ace let out a content sigh, but continued to sleep. Marco had fallen, and he had fallen hard. But he really needed to be careful of Ace’s feelings becoming too strong. He would have a problem once he was ready to tell the truth. Not that he didn’t have that anyway…

Ace mumbled something again, before his eyes fluttered open. “Morning,” he muttered and pressed a kiss on Marco’s naked chest. Then a smirk appeared on his face. “How’s your ass?”

“It’s fine, but no thanks to you,” Marco answered amused.

Ace snickered after rubbing his eyes and got up. “Then how about a shower? I obviously haven’t done my job right.”

* * *

On his birthday, Marco had taken half the day off to spend with Ace. Scorpion’s trial had passed without further incident, aside from when the judges had declared him guilty. Johnson had thrown a fit, screaming obscenities at Ace especially, and Ace had almost lost his temper too. Fortunately, Marco had been there and a simple touch had visibly relaxed Ace, which prevented another arrest. Though, Ace hadn’t been able to resist kissing Marco fervently with Scorpion watching and all but groping him. Much to Marco’s relief, Ace had become more relaxed after the trial and smiled happily at Marco.

Marco had just come back from an arson case – which had been an accident, someone had left a candle burning, which lit a curtain – and was on his way to retrieve some of his belongings from his office before he would head home. He hadn’t made any plans with Ace, aside that Ace would stop by at some point, but he was really looking forward to it – even if he almost spent every waking moment with Ace.

He passed some firefighters on his way to his office, who were unusually quiet. It seemed that Scorpion’s trial had made quite some impact. Some of the firefighters looked a bit wary at Marco, as they had heard during the trial how he had rendered Scorpion – a well-trained fireman – harmless without too much effort. He ignored them, though. Today was his day, and he was going to spend it with the man he loved – not that he would tell him that.

He had gotten several calls and texts to congratulate him from his family, including Pops, and friends. The next weekend they would celebrate his, Izo’s, Rakuyo’s and Curiel’s birthday at his father’s house. He was looking forward to seeing his brothers again, as their poker night hadn’t taken place in a while, and Ace would meet Pops, which Marco, despite knowing that he shouldn’t be, was excited about.

Inside his office, Marco retrieved the items he was looking for, when his eye fell on his desk chair. There, a pineapple was placed, with a mark drawn on it that resembled Marco’s tattoo, and someone had placed his reading glasses on it as well. It wasn’t hard to guess who this someone was.

Sighing, though mildly amused, Marco picked up the pineapple, having first carefully removed the glasses and tucked them away, along with his other things and left the office.

On his way to his car, he got some weird looks cast at him and the pineapple. He shrugged. “Ace.” For most, that seemed enough explanation, and they resumed their business.

Why he had gotten a pineapple wasn’t exactly a brain-twister. More than once Ace had teased him that his hair reminded Ace of said fruit. Marco cast a glance on the pineapple that he had placed next to him on the passenger’s seat and grinned. He couldn’t wait to see what else Ace had in store for him.

Opening the door of his house, he was surprised to find a familiar pair of boots in the hallway. Ace was here already? He wondered how he had gotten in, as he hadn’t given him a key. Before he could reach the door to the living room, however, his foot kicked against something. Looking down, he saw a cylinder shaped object, wrapped in colourful paper. He bent over and picked it up, tearing the paper off it. It revealed a can, and, turning it around, he wanted to slap himself against the forehead. The can contained pineapple rings.

Several more gifts were littered around the hallway, forming a trail towards the living room. It seemed that Ace had tried to find anything with pineapple. Marco got another can, this one filled with pineapple pieces, fried pineapple crisps, dried pineapple, pineapple tea, pineapple juice and even body butter with pineapple scent. Rolling his eyes, he gathered the gifts in his arms and entered the living room.

There, in the middle of the room on a chair, Ace was sitting with a grin on his face. “I take it you found my presents?”

“You couldn’t find more pineapple products?”

Ace snickered. “You’ll see~”

Marco placed the items on the table and took off his coat. “How did you get in? You’d better not broken a window.”

“I’m not a vandal! Well, not with you, anyway,” he quickly added after seeing Marco’s raised eyebrow. He had told one too many stories about his youth. “Izo let me in.”

Looking at Ace beaming up to him, Marco blurted out: “You want one?”

“Want one what?” Ace asked confusedly.

Only now Marco realised what he had implied, but he wasn’t about to back out, against his better judgement. “A key. To my house.”

“Are you sure? I’ll just lose it, you know.” Ace grinned.

Marco looked at him warmly. “I’m sure.” Opening a drawer, he rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. Fishing out the spare key, he handed it to Ace.

Ace looked touched, smiling at him. “Thank you. I’d give you our key, but you know where to find it already,” he said, referring to the key that they kept under the doormat in case Luffy or Ace lost theirs.

Marco leaned down and kissed Ace, who was still sitting on the chair, on the lips.

Ace wrapped his arms around his neck and let him do as he pleased for a while, until he eventually pushed him away. “This is not how I planned it.”

“Planned what?” Marco asked, genuinely confused.

“Why would you think I sit on this chair when you have a perfectly comfortable couch?” Ace got up and pushed Marco in his former seat, placing a kiss on his lips. “Now, pay attention.”

He pulled a remote from his pant pocket and after pressing a button, music started to play.

Befuddled, Marco watched as Ace started to sway his hips slowly to the rhythm of the jazzy music.

 _Watch my lips while_ _I_ _'m telling you this  
Yeah_ _,_ _it's all_ _for you_

As soon as the sultry voice started to sing, Ace’s hand roamed over his own chest and slowly started to unbutton the shirt he was wearing from the bottom up. Only now, Marco realized Ace was surprisingly dressed for the occasion.

_Every flick of the wrist, every swing of the hips  
Yeah, it’s all for you_

Ace’s body moved perfectly in sync with the music as slowly more skin came in sight. Despite seeing that perfect torso hundreds of times – including the times he had been watching him train from the window of his office – Marco was on the edge of his seat with every inch that became available.

Suddenly, the music became louder and the voice of the vocalist more intense.

_I'm spelling it out it's not written in code  
I want you so much I think I'm gonna explode_

With the word ‘explode’, Ace ripped his shirt completely open and casually cast it aside. Marco’s eyes roamed that muscular torso like it was the first time he saw it. Not for a moment had he expected that Ace would strip for him as a present.

Ace walked up to him, circling around the chair only to stand behind him and, with a jerk, he pulled Marco against the back. Marco hadn’t even noticed he was on the edge of his seat while he was watching the show. Skilled hands roamed his chest, and he leaned his head back against Ace.

Ace pulled back and continued to make his circle until he was in front of Marco again while the sound of a trumpet filled the room. Marco immediately missed the touch. Ace had barely even started and he was half hard already.

Ace’s movements were perfectly timed; the moment he was in position again, the vocalist continued after the musical intermezzo.

_When I move real slow, babe, I want you to know  
It's all for you_

The pants were discarded on the floor, leaving Ace standing in very tiny shorts, which did nothing to conceal his erection. So Marco wasn’t the only one affected.

 _Every bump, every grind, oh, I think that you'll find that_  
_It's all for you_

At the word ‘grind’ Ace snapped his hips forward in a way that Marco would not soon forget. A groan left his lips before he realised.

_I'm spelling it out, it's not written in code  
I want you so much I think I'm gonna explode_

All Marco could do was watch how Ace danced seductively in front of him. Rolling his hips, Ace sunk onto his knees while the vocalist repeated the words “All for you” and pushed Marco’s legs apart, ending between them as the music slowly faded away.

Marco sat frozen for a moment, before he couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He smashed their mouths together, pulling Ace to his feet and pushing him on the couch.

Ace moaned, but when Marco attacked his neck, he snickered. “I take it that you liked it?”

Marco sat up and let his eyes hungrily roam the body beneath him. His glance lingered on the very small shorts and he groaned again. “How do you even fit in there?”

“It wasn’t easy,” Ace admitted before his lips were attacked again. “Wait!” he managed to bring out muffled, pushing Marco off him. “I’m not done yet.”

Marco sat back. “More dancing?”

Ace’s mischievous grin told him that he had something else in mind. Kissing him gently, Ace started to take off Marco’s clothes, until he was completely naked. Then Ace got up, much to Marco’s displeasure.

Marco was completely confused when Ace tied a cloth over his eyes, blindfolding him. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“You’ll see. No peeking!”

Impatiently, he waited as Ace walked away and he heard him rummage about in the kitchen. “Ace, what–”

He was cut off when he felt something cold and slick was pushed over his cock. It was definitely not a condom, but what it was Marco couldn’t make out either. Lips were pressed against his and the blindfold was removed. Ace’s mouth moved to his jaw and to his neck, kissing downwards to his chest. Marco took the opportunity to look down and finally see what Ace had placed around his erection. It hadn’t been too confiding, so Ace wasn’t suddenly into kinky toys, but what he saw was plain ridiculous.

Ace had opened up his can of pineapple rings and placed one around his cock. The hole had been too small, of course, so the ring was torn, but there it was, resting on his crotch and dripping juice in his pubic hair.

Marco made a sound that was between a chuckle and a snort. “That’s not what those are for.”

“I know.” Ace kissed his lips. “But they say your cum tastes sweeter after eating pineapple, so I figured we should find out if that’s true.” He leaned down to get something and plopped part of a pineapple ring in Marco’s mouth.

He liked pineapple – and he would have to, if he wanted to consume all the products Ace had given him – but he didn’t feel like eating a whole can of it. “Ace–”

Another piece was pushed in his mouth as Ace grinned up to him, continuing where he left off with kissing down his chest. When he reached his goal, he flashed Marco, who just swallowed the pineapple, a smirk, before he ran his tongue up Marco’s erection. After doing so, he sat back, smacking his lips as if to take better. “Sweet.”

“That’s just the juice from the ring,” Marco answered, barely containing himself to push Ace’s face down and bringing that mouth to work.

“You’re right. Now, let’s see about your juice.” The grin he gave Marco should be illegal, and, moaning, Marco let his head fall back as Ace leaned down once again.

Raising his head again, Marco watched Ace work, kissing and licking his already leaking cock, and occasionally nibbling at the torn pineapple ring, smirking as he did so. When Ace bit into the flesh of the fruit again, his teeth grazed at the sensitive skin of Marco’s cock, and Marco cursed loudly.

Ace looked up, slightly worried, but when he caught Marco’s gaze full of lust, he dove back in with twice as much enthusiasm.

Marco writhed on the couch, fighting his hips from bucking into that wonderful mouth. Soon, the pineapple had disappeared, but Ace never stopped licking, and the grazing of his teeth was hardly an accident. Marco fisted one hand in Ace’s black strands while he searched with the other for hold on the couch cushion. With his head, he leaned back against the armrest, his mouth hanging open. Suddenly, Ace sucked particularly hard, and Marco lost it. His whole body shuddering, he came inside Ace’s mouth.

Ace swallowed everything, before he sat in Marco’s lap with a grin. Marco looked at him expectantly. “Well?”

“Hard to know, I still have the taste of the actual pineapple in my mouth,” Ace mused. Then he chuckled. “So next time we should leave out the pineapple ring.”

Marco let out a laugh and pulled the grinning Ace close.

Ace kissed his lips. “Happy birthday, Marco.”

“Happy birthday, indeed.” Marco caressed the dark hair. “I don’t think I can look at a pineapple anymore without getting a boner.”

Ace chuckled and snuggled closer. They sat like that for a while when Ace asked: “So, are you going to tell me how old you are?”

“No.”

“Why not?” he whined. “I don’t care what it is.”

“Then why ask?”

“Excuse me for wanting to know my boyfriend. You know how old I am.”

“Exactly.” Absentmindedly, Marco stroked the freckled cheeks.

Ace pouted, but eventually sighed. “Fine, I’ll let it go. But at some point you have to tell me, you know.”

Marco smiled weakly. “I know, I will.”

Ace looked at him surprised. “Really? When?”

“When you least expect it.” Without any warning, Marco flipped them over. “For now, I want to enjoy my birthday present. After all, you didn’t even let me unwrap it myself.”

Ace chuckled and allowed Marco to kiss him. “There is still a part to unwrap~”

Marco sat back and groaned as he looked at the tight little pants Ace was still wearing. “I know.”

“That too, but not what I meant.” Ace pushed him off and looked for something under the couch. “Here.” He handed Marco a bottle shaped package.

It was not hard to guess what was in there, considering what they talked about a few days ago and what they were about to do.

“I swear, Ace, if it’s pineapple flavoured, I will never have sex with you again,” Marco threatened.

“Don’t worry, I couldn’t find any,” Ace chuckled.

Marco unwrapped the bottle and sighed. Ace hadn’t lied, it wasn’t pineapple. It was cherry. “I think I’m starting to like the less sex option more and more.”

“Yeah, right. Then whose cock was I sucking on just now?”

Marco chuckled and kissed him. “We don’t need lube for that. But we will for what I want to do now.”

“No matter how old you get, you still don’t have self control,” Ace teased, but was soon shut up by hungry lips.

Marco worked the tiny shorts off Ace, which proved to be a struggle as Ace was already completely hard – and by the time he had thrown the article of clothing on the floor, he wondered how it had fit in the first place. Not that he was complaining, though.

Ace wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck, returning the kiss with equal enthusiasm. Hands roamed the other’s body and nails were dragged along their skin. Ace tried to flip them over, realising too late they weren’t lying on Marco’s big double bed, but on the couch, and they fell onto the floor.

Ace ended on top as he intended, sitting up and looking down to Marco worriedly. “Are you okay?”

Being pulled back down in a heated kiss answered his question. They flipped positions a few times, pushing the coffee table out of the way and rolling around the floor of the living room. Eventually, Ace was on top with Marco’s fingers covered in cherry favoured lube inside him, moving his hips in rhythm with Marco’s thrusts. Marco looked up at him, watching his flushed cheeks and parted swollen lips as he panted. When he hit his prostate, Ace’s eyes fluttered close, and he let out a moan.

“I’m ready,” he brought out.

Pulling his fingers out, Marco handed Ace the lube and hissed when the cold liquid came into contact with his heated skin. When he was coated, Ace slowly lowered himself onto him. Fully sheathed, he waited a second to catch his breath before he started to move his hips.

Soon, the room was filled with the sound of pants and soft moans. Marco reached out to caress Ace’s thighs and grabbed his hips to help his movements. Ace placed his hands on each side of Marco’s head and smiled at him, before he closed his eyes when his prostate was hit.

Marco was feeling the familiar feeling pooling in his gut when Ace suddenly froze, a painful expression on his face. “What’s wrong?” Marco asked worriedly. Caressing the strong thighs again, he could feel them shaking ever so slightly.

“Cramp,” Ace admitted hesitantly. “Fuck, I’ve never had that before.”

“You want to stop?”

“How can we stop now? We’re both hard and you’re ball deep inside me.” Ace moved, only to pull a painful face again.

“Then… You want me to take over?”

Ace looked at him surprised. “Are you sure? What about your back? I’m sure it will fad–”

With a yelp, he found himself on his back with Marco on top of him, without the latter having pulled out.

“I think I’ll manage.” Without waiting for a signal, Marco started to move.

“J-just promise to stop… stop when it starts to hurt,” Ace panted as Marco thrust into him.

Marco hummed, but he doubted he could even stop now. Lying on top of Ace like the first time they had sex, he realised he had missed this position. Not that he didn’t enjoy Ace riding him, far from it, and Ace fucking him was nice too, but to finally have control again felt amazing. In the back of his head, he paid attention to his lower back, but up till now it went fine, especially with Ace meeting his thrusts as fervently as he did.

Having build up to his climax already when Ace was on top, it didn’t take long for the feeling to return. He grabbed Ace’s erection, stroking it roughly in time with his thrusts. Ace came with a loud scream, which the neighbours no doubt heard – not that it was the first time they would be a bother to them – and Marco followed him not even a second after.

Marco rolled off Ace, who immediately snuggled up to him. “How’s your back?” the latter inquired hoarsely.

“It’s fine. How are your legs?”

“Fine.” Ace sighed and gave him a lazy kiss on his temple. “You know,” he continued after a moment of thought, “this is the first time we have sex some place else than your bed. I mean, there was some groping in the shower, but that hardly counts, and the time we almost had sex in the alley behind the Baratie when Zeff caught us.”

Marco hummed. The last incident had happened on their stake out night, when Sanji, Zoro and Luffy went after the arsonist that had burned down the Baratie. Sanji’s foster father’s life had been threatened, and Marco and Ace had taken it upon themselves to watch out for assassins. But they had gotten bored, which resulted in some making out and inappropriate touching, when Zeff had taken out the trash and dragged them inside to feed them.

“What’s wrong with a bed?” he asked.

“Nothing, it just gets kind of boring, don’t you think? And there are a lot of things that need to be inaugurated.”

“What makes you think I haven’t done that already with someone else?” Marco asked amusedly, and a chuckle escaped his lips when Ace puffed his cheeks in displeasure.

“Have you?”

He thought for a moment. “I’ve had sex on the couch before.”

Ace looked around. “How about the counter?”

“What? You want to go again?”

Ace placed a leg on either side of his hips, hovering over him with a smirk on his face. “What’s the matter, old man? Can’t keep up?”

“Careful, kid.” In the blink of an eye, he had gotten up and pinned Ace against the table. He was careful to avoid the word ‘brat’, as he knew that both Ace’s grandfather and Smoker used that for him, and he hardly wanted Ace to think about either of them right now. “You should know better than to challenge me.”

Ace let himself be pulled into a heated kiss, before he pushed Marco away and smirked again. “Then prove it.”

Before he knew it, Marco had turned him around, pinning his chest against the tabletop, and his ass on display. The rough treatment turned him on – perhaps more than it should – and, involuntarily, he bucked his hips back. It wasn’t that he didn’t like how they usually had sex; he loved Marco’s gentle touches and the lovemaking. He liked it because it was different from anyone else he had ever been with. But that didn’t mean he didn’t like to lure out the animal that was trapped inside the usually composed Marco. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of that side, like the first time they slept together, but it seemed now he had gone too far with his taunting – and he loved it.

The tip of Marco’s cock was pressing against his still loose entrance. “You mean something like this?” Marco all but growled.

Ace moaned and pushed his hips back, letting Marco’s rock hard erection slip inside him. The hand that held him pinned down against the table loosened its grip a little when he heard Marco’s breath quiver. Marco’s free hand moved to his hip, before he slammed into Ace with as much force as he dared. The table creaked, but neither of them heard it over their moaning.

Marco set a pace, and Ace was happy to comply by moving his hips back with equal force. The gifts Ace had gotten him tingled against each other and at one point, Ace knocked the still closed can of pineapple pieces off the table, which fell on the floor with a loud bang and rolled away. Neither of them paid it any heed as it was impossible to focus on anything else than what they were doing.

Marco kept hitting his prostate over and over, causing Ace to see stars. His nails clawed at the table in an attempt to find support. It had been a long time since he had been taken so hard and rough. He just hoped Marco enjoyed it just as much as he did. Judging from the moans that reached Ace’s ears, he did. Marco’s hand had left his back a long time ago, now also placed on his hips.

“H-harder,” Ace brought out and immediately got his wish as Marco used the strength of his arms to pull him closer. His prostate was hit head on and, with a loud scream, he came the second time that day, without the need of Marco touching his cock.

Ace barely noticed the few more thrusts Marco managed before he too reached his climax. Ace’s hips were let go, but as soon as his legs had to carry his own weight again, they gave way, causing him to slide off the table.

It took him a moment to register that someone caressed his sweaty hair, and he looked around to the worried face of Marco. “Are you okay?”

He grinned back. “’m Fine. Maybe you’re not so old after all~”

Marco snorted, but still helped Ace up, who almost immediately collapsed again, and carried him towards the couch.

Ace flopped down like a sack of potatoes, but grinned nonetheless. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Marco had taken a seat next to him, having to lift Ace’s legs to make room and placed them in his lap. “What? Fuck you senseless?”

“On the dinner table,” Ace added chuckling.

Marco hummed and absentmindedly massaged Ace’s feet. “Ace?” he asked after a moment of silence, starting Ace, who had almost drifted off to sleep. “Do you like this way better?”

Ace yawned and rubbed his eyes, before sitting up and crawling in Marco’s lap. “Of course not. I like both.” He kissed him. “I really like it how you tenderly make love to me. I’ve never had sex like that before. But…” He kissed Marco’s lips again. “I also like it when you pin me against a flat surface and try to fuck my brains out.”

Marco returned the kiss, letting his hand run op the still trembling legs. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“Because of your back. Hell, the first time we fucked it wasn’t that wild, and you almost went cripple. Are you hurt now?” he added concernedly.

Marco smiled. “I wouldn’t have been able to carry you over here if I was. I guess it’s finally starting to heal. So, maybe we could do that counter thing you suggested sometime.”

Ace pressed his lips against Marco’s cheek and moved so that he was lying with his head in Marco’s lap. “I can’t wait to tell Sanji about that,” he said sleepily. “Do you think his head will explode?” He drifted off while Marco continued to caress his hair.

* * *

When he woke up, he was still lying in Marco’s lap, although Marco was now wearing pants and was reading a book. Looking down, Ace noted that there was a blanket draped over him. Yawning, he sat up and scanned the room. Marco must have cleaned up while he was out cold. The pineapple gifts were no longer on the table and the opened can of fruit rings had been removed from its spot next to the couch where Ace had left it.

“Hey.” He pressed a lazy kiss on Marco’s cheek. “Sorry that I fell asleep. We should do something fun on your birthday.”

“As I recall it, we did.” Marco smirked. “Did I give you so much brain damage that you forgot?”

“As if. And if I had forgotten, my ass is a nice reminder.” He grinned as Marco pulled him into a hug and gently massaged the sore spot at the bottom of his spine.

“How about we go out for dinner tonight?” Marco suggested.

“If it’s your treat,” Ace joked.

“It’s my birthday, so I guess I have to. Now, go take a shower. If your legs are up to it again, of course,” Marco teased.

Mature like he was, Ace stuck out his tongue and made his way up the stairs. After having taken a shower, he went downstairs again – naked, because his clothes were still in the living room after his striptease. Marco was still reading his book, reading glasses placed firmly on his nose. He ignored Ace completely, much to Ace’s annoyance, so after trying to get his attention by bending down unnecessarily far to pick up his pants – to no avail – he stood in front of Marco’s line of sight and pushed the book down. “Is it so normal to have someone walk around naked that you don’t even bother to look?”

“No, but it’s a very good book I’m reading.” Marco placed it aside and pulled Ace close to kiss his belly. “Now, put on some pants, I don’t think the restaurant will allow you inside like this.”

Ace snorted, but then started to laugh. “Depends on the restaurant, I guess.”

“I made a reservation at the place where I took you for our first date. Is that okay?” Marco waited until Ace had hoisted up his pants and buttoned up his shirt.

“That’s so cute!” Ace laughed at the unamused face Marco pulled.

Together, they walked to Marco’s car and got in. During the ride to the restaurant, Ace kept looking at Marco. Their relationship now was so different from when they were on their first date, but Ace wouldn’t change a thing. Except the attempts to murder, of course, they could do without that. Though, their bond had become stronger through them.

Leaning his head back against the headrest, he smiled fondly. If Thatch had thought he was smitten before they started going out, what would he think he was now? Marco was amazing and ever since they started dating, Ace hadn’t felt the need to sleep around. He had thought having sex with one person would become monotonous, but just this afternoon Marco had proven that was not the case.

Marco parked near the restaurant, and, holding hands, they entered the small building. They were greeted by the same waitress as the first night they were there, and she seemed to recognise them as well, as she immediately flushed. “Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes, name of Fenwick.”

The waitress helped them with their coats, before she led them to a table next to the window. Handing them the menus, she took their drinking order – her cheeks still bright red – before she left them to decide on their dinner. Ace smiled fondly when he thought back to their first date and how jealous he had been of the pretty waitress. Okay, he had to admit, the Shanks-thing still wasn’t sitting well with him, but he knew Marco wouldn’t spare a random person a second glance.

Marco took his hand and smiled at him. “Brings back memories?”

“It sure does,” Ace chuckled. “So,” he changed the subject, “did you have fun on your birthday?”

“I did.” Marco grinned. “I got nice presents.”

“I’ve gotten you something else, but you’ll get that this weekend,” Ace stated proudly.

“Is it in the same line as what I got today?” Marco said with a smirk. “Because Thatch will have a heart attack.”

The waitress returned, and Ace just wiggled his eyebrows in answer to Marco’s question. When their dinner was brought, Ace didn’t feel the need to hold back on his eating manners, like he had done on their first date and when he looked up, he saw Marco looking at him fondly.

Marco had let Ace order two main courses – he hadn’t eaten beforehand, after all. He rubbed his foot along Ace’s leg, who looked up with a smile. It was nice to eat like this again, but without the tension of the first date. He noticed their waitress talking to another one, looking in their direction and giggling. He wasn’t sure if they were checking Ace out, but when he took Ace’s hand and kissed it, the chortling increased, so he assumed the first thing wasn’t the case.

While Ace was wolfing down his dinner, Marco cast a glance outside. It was a nice October night, not too cold, and it was dry. In all, it was the perfect birthday weather – not that he had enjoyed it as much as he could, as they had spend the day indoors doing other things. Perhaps they should take a walk after dinner.

While he was musing, he noticed a glimmer of something from the corner of his eye. He squinted, searching for its cause, but couldn’t find anything and, shrugging, he brushed it off as a passing car or something. That was, until he noticed a faint red dot on Ace’s temple.

“Get down!”

The moment he jumped on Ace, pushing him out of the way, the window shattered and pieces of glass rained down on them. The other people in the restaurant started to scream and panic, including most of the staff.

Marco looked up to see where the bullet had came from, when he felt a stinging pain in his arm. Ace, lying beneath him, groaned as he attempted to sit up, but Marco pushed him down again. In the distance, the siren from a police car sounded, they were already on their way, but Marco wouldn’t risk it. This had been another attempt on Ace life, and he was willing to bet a lot that Akainu was behind it. Dammit, he was finally starting to relax again – and of course that had been his biggest mistake.

“Marco… You’re bleeding.”

Ace’s soft voice woke him from his self-berating, and he looked down on him. Just this afternoon he had seen him in this position, but he had liked that facial expression – blushing and needy – better than the worried look he got now. “It’s okay. It’s just a graze.”

He checked the direction the bullet had came from again, but police officers were already fencing off the crime scene. Carefully, he moved off Ace, while pressing a hand against his wounded arm, and wiped the glass from the black strands. “Are you okay?”

“You’re the one that got shot!”

He sighed. “Yes, but they were aiming at _you_.”

Police officers came in, trying to calm down the panicking people. An ambulance parked next to the restaurant as well and as soon as the authorities noticed Marco was bleeding he was taken there, although he rather would have stayed with Ace. Ace was pale and looked very upset. They wouldn’t let Marco go until his wound was checked, however.

Finally able to return to Ace, with his arm bandaged and in a sling, he found Ace sitting in a corner, his knees pulled up and his face hidden in his arms. Marco knelt down next to him, gently touching him with his good arm. “Ace…”

“How many times?”

Confused, he raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“How many times?” With a jerking motion, Ace looked up. It didn’t look like he had cried, but he was obviously upset. “How many times do you need to almost get killed before you dump my ass?”

“What, you arrange an assassin to have me dump you?” Marco tried to sound humorous, failing miserably.

“Why are you still with me? I’ll be the death of you!”

Marco grabbed his chin. “Ace, I care a great deal about you. And I promised to keep you safe and that’s what I will do.”

Ace looked away. “You’re not obligated to do that, you know.”

“I want to do it.”

Ace looked up from the earnestness in his voice. “Marco…”

“Now, stop questioning me. Nothing will happen to you, or me, I promise. Well, nothing worse than a graze,” he quickly added when he saw Ace was going to comment. “What have you told the police?”

“What happened. That I didn’t see anything until you pushed me out of the way.” Ace laughed on the wrong side of his face. “You know, I managed myself just fine before I met you. I must become careless with you around.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, but Ace kissed him quickly. “But I much rather have you saving my ass. Or,” he added with a more characteristic smirk, “do something else to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is "All for You" by Imelda May


	23. Chapter 23

“Luffy, hurry up! We have to go!” Ace walked up and down in front of his motorcycle, waiting for his brother. It was the weekend after Marco’s birthday, the day of the grand party at Whitebeard’s house, and Ace would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Sure, every single brother he had spoken to had impressed on him that their ‘Pops’ would love him, but he would still meet his boyfriend’s father, and that was a big step in their relationship. Ace almost huffed at that thought. Marco had caught a bullet for him, on his own birthday no less, but meeting his father made Ace nervous. It was silly, really.

After Marco had come back from having his arm tended to after the shooting, the police had talked to him as well, but in the end they hadn’t caught the sniper, which made Ace a little paranoid. There hadn’t been an attack on him in a while, aside from the poisoned cake incident. But this time, the culprit hadn’t been caught, so Ace expected a repetition at any moment. After all, how could the shooter have known that they were at the restaurant, if he had not followed them there?

Marco refused to break up with Ace, though, which made him happy and sad at the same time. Happy for obvious reasons, because he really liked him, but sad because he didn’t want to endanger Marco. But he also didn’t want Luffy to fear anything, which left him torn. If he broke up with Marco, his brother might become a target, and Ace would never forgive himself if something happened to Luffy. Then again, the same thing went for Marco, but at least Marco knew the danger. In all, it was far from an ideal situation.

“Luffy!” he called again, and, finally, his brother emerged, chewing on a sandwich. He seemed excited, even more so than Ace. The Whitebeard brothers had told Ace to invite whoever he wanted, but it seemed a bit weird to invite his friends who only knew Marco and not even that well. Nami had been invited, but didn’t want to go anymore when Nojiko, who Thatch had invited, suddenly had to go out of town for her work.

Once he had heard the word ‘barbeque’, however, Luffy had invited himself before Ace had had the chance to do so. Marco had smiled when Ace had asked if it was okay to invite his brother, telling him that there was nothing his Pops valued more than family, so that he would love to meet Ace’s as well.

Luffy stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and smirked while chewing when Ace handed him a helmet. They would go by motorcycle to the house before the actual party started, to help with the decorations. Marco would come with Izo a little later; since it was their birthday, they wouldn’t have to help out. They would hang out with just the brothers, Ace, and some following for the afternoon and have a barbeque, and after that the other guests would arrive and the actual party would start.

Marco had given Ace the address, and it was quite a long drive. He didn’t mind, though. Ever since he had good medication for his narcolepsy, he didn’t have to worry about falling asleep randomly, so he could drive longer distances without fear. Today would be the first drive longer than just to work or to one of his friends.

Ace swung one leg over the motorcycle, placing his helmet on his head. He waited for Luffy to climb onto the back and to have wrapped his arms securely around his waist, before he turned on the engine and drove off.

The drive wasn’t that exciting, but Ace always loved the freedom a motorcycle gave him. On the motorway, he could zigzag between the cars and never get into a traffic-jam. Gramps had explicitly forbidden him to learn how to ride a car, because, Gramps reasoned, if Ace fell asleep behind the wheel of a car, he was more likely to injure people, and more at the same time, than he would on a motorcycle. Ace never saw the appeal of being able to drive a car anyway, although, he realised, with his medication he could go for his driver’s licence, theoretically. Luffy couldn’t drive either, but always thought Ace looked cool on his motorcycle.

They arrived at the address sooner than Ace expected, or at least, at the place where the house should be. He didn’t see anything aside from a sand road, which Marco had said he should take. Shrugging, he did as he had been told and, soon, he saw a house loom up in the distance. The closer he got, the larger the building seemed to grow, and when Ace came to a stop and took off his helmet, his jaw dropped. This wasn’t just a house, this was a country house!

“This place is huge!” Luffy commented amazed when he followed Ace’s example and took off his helmet.

“Is this right?” Ace muttered and checked the address again, when suddenly Jozu appeared with a stack of boxes.

“Hey Ace,” he greeted Ace. “Thanks for coming early. There are still a lot of preparations to do. You found the place okay?”

“Yeah, Marco gave me a pretty detailed route description. Didn’t think the house would be this big, though.” Again, Ace glanced at the mansion.

Jozu laughed loudly. “Well, it’s not that big when you have fourteen siblings, you know.”

Ace snickered. “I guess so. Oh, you remember my brother Luffy?”

Luffy saluted. “Yo.”

He had barely said it when a flash of white passed Jozu and tackled Ace on the floor. Ace was a bit confused, until he felt a wet tongue licking his face, and he started to laugh.

“Stefan, down,” Jozu commanded.

The dog, because that was what the enormous beast probably was, reluctantly got off Ace so he could sit up, but kept standing between his legs to be petted, wagging its tail like he was trying to lift off.

Ace scratched the dog behind its ears, still chuckling. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”

“He’s Pops’. Name’s Stefan. He gets excited easily.” Jozu laughed as well. “He hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

“Nah, I can handle it.” Ace looked at his brother, who hadn’t said a word since the dog arrived. Luffy was standing in the same spot, his eyes all but sparkling and a large grin on his face. “He is huuuuge! Can I ride him?” He looked at Jozu almost begging, and Ace knew the large man would give in.

As he thought, Jozu shrugged. “If he allows it, sure.”

“Be careful, though,” Ace warned as Luffy immediately made to jump the animal.

Stefan thought it was a game, however, and as soon as Luffy tried to climb on him, he ran off, causing Luffy to land with his nose on the ground.

“Stupid dog,” he said frowning, before scrambling to his feet and set off in pursuit of the animal.

Ace laughed and looked at Jozu, who shook his head. “Where can I find the others?” Ace asked.

“Inside, but shouldn’t you wait for your brother?”

“Nah, he’ll follow once he’s gotten rid of his extra energy. So it might be a while,” Ace added.

Jozu chuckled. “Come on in then, most are already here. I’ll take away these boxes and then I’ll join you.”

Ace nodded and, swallowing hard, he entered the country house. It wasn’t hard to find the others, as they were talking and laughing loudly. Entering the living room, he was greeted enthusiastically, and, as soon as Luffy joined them, Ace introduced Luffy to the people who he hadn’t met before. All of the Whitebeard brothers were present, aside from Marco, Izo, Rakuyo and Curiel, whose birthdays they would be celebrating.

“Where is…?” Ace started nervously after everyone had been acquainted.

Thatch started to laugh. “You mean Pops? Don’t worry, he’s taking a nap for now. You’ll meet him soon enough, though.”

“Ya nervous already?” Jiru teased.

“Not at all. Shut up.” Ace hated it that they all started to laugh, including Luffy.

Fossa slammed his hand down on Ace’s shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. He’s not picky when it comes to people.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ace snapped, only causing the others to laugh again.

They started decorating, and Ace really had a good time. The brothers got along well with Luffy, which wasn’t an unexpected, but a pleasant development nonetheless. About an hour after Ace had arrived, Rakuyo and Curiel joined them too, soon followed by the sound of a car pulling up on the driveway.

“Well, let’s get this party started.” Izo appeared in the doorway, followed by Marco.

Ace jumped up at seeing Marco, but was pushed out of the way by the overly excited brothers, who came to congratulate the two with their birthdays. Even Luffy squeezed himself in to greet them enthusiastically.

“Glad you could make it.” Thatch wrapped his arm around Izo and grinned broadly.

“You think that I miss my own birthday party?” Izo snorted.

Marco elbowed his way out of the mass of brothers and stopped in front of Ace. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Ace smirked as Marco leaned down and kissed him, ignoring the whooping sounds the others made. Marco just rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around Ace.

Jiru looked out of the window. “You didn’t take Marco’s car? He usually uses very opportunity to take her for a spin.”

Marco pulled a face. “I’m not allowed to drive for a few days.”

Surprised, everyone, except Luffy, who was distracted by something and had wandered off, looked his way. “What happened?”

Marco exchanged a look with Ace, who almost invisibly shook his head. “I got shot.”

Instead reactions of shock, like Ace had expected, some started laughing, others exchanged money, and Haruta said: “I thought you promised Pops not to do that anymore.”

Caught off guard by the casual responses and the bets which were apparently made, Ace blurted out: “It was my fault, okay? They were aiming for me!” He was glad Luffy was too far away to hear. He really didn’t want his brother to know about this.

“Of course they were, Marco knows better than to almost get killed,” Thatch said like it was the most normal thing in the world and wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulder.

Marco exchanged a silent plea with Ace not to mention the incident with Johnson.

“Besides, he would long since have broken up with you if you hadn’t been in danger.” Blamenco nudged Marco’s side. “Ordinary life is too boring for our Marco.”

Marco rolled his eyes again and moved closer to Ace.

“Did they catch the guy?” Vista inquired.

Ace shook his head and looked at the floor.

“Don’t worry about it. Main thing is,” Thatch said, “you’re under the Whitebeard brothers’ protection now. We’ll keep you safe.” He winked.

“Okay… Just don’t wink at me again,” Ace said mock disgusted.

Thatch shot him a glare.

Their conversation was cut short when Luffy came back running into the house, his eyes shining. “Ace, you have to come look! They have a _pool_!”

“Really?” Ace followed his brother into the garden Luffy had discovered. Luffy had been right, there was a reasonably sized pool.

“That’s so awesome!” Ace turned towards Marco, Thatch, Izo and Namur who had followed after them. “You should have told me, I would have brought my swimming trunks.”

“It’s October,” Izo said disapprovingly.

Ace shrugged. “It’s not cold.”

“Just swim in your underwear. We used to do that all the time,” Thatch said with a shrug.

“That might pose a problem,” Ace said, scratching the back of his head.

Thatch looked at him confusedly. “Why would that…” When he realised where the grinning Ace was aiming at, he turned to Marco with a disgusted face. “Marco, tell your boyfriend to wear underwear!”

Marco smirked and wrapped an arm around Ace. “I would, but it’s rather convenient this way.”

Thatch’s face was priceless, before he turned around to storm inside.

Ace called him back. “Oh, come on, we were just kidding. I’m wearing underwear, see?” He pulled the waistband of his pants forward and looked down. “Hey, wait a minute! These boxers aren’t mine! Marco, you think we switched this morning in the dark?”

They all laughed, except Thatch, who went back inside huffing, and Luffy who didn’t get the joke. “Ace, are we going to swim?” he asked.

“No Luffy, you can’t–” A loud splash cut him off, and he would have face palmed at seeing the rings in the water of the pool if he hadn’t been so worried. Really, what the hell was Luffy thinking? Why couldn’t he just remember he couldn’t swim? Ace was already kicking off his boots, when another splash sounded, and Namur was no longer standing next to them.

Ace sighed in relief when Namur resurfaced, holding Luffy above water. Ace pulled his brother out of the water to check if he was okay and when he had determined he was, Ace stared to scold him and hit him over the head a couple of times. Marco and Izo looked on amused.

“…Will you just remember you can’t swim? Dammit Luffy, you almost gave me a heart attack. You know, it could have ended badly if Namur hadn’t acted so quickly. Now, go thank him,” Ace ended his scolding strictly.

“Thanks,” Luffy said, only to receive another hit in the head.

“Do it properly!”

Luffy bowed obediently. “Thank you, Namur.”

Namur started to laugh warmly. “Don’t worry about it. But I teach swimming classes in the weekend, you might want to sign up.”

“But I don’t wanna take classes~” Luffy whined.

Ace hit him again. “You’re going! And be grateful!”

“Thank you, Namur,” Luffy repeated.

Ace nodded approvingly.

Namur laughed again. “Come on, we’ll find you some dry clothes before you catch a cold. I think Haruta might still have some things lying around that’ll fit you.”

Luffy skipped after him, while Ace called after him to be polite. Then Ace turned around, only to see the amused faces of Marco and Izo. “What?” he asked, trying to sound annoyed, but it came out embarrassedly.

“You’re cute when you’re overprotective,” Marco said with a smirk.

Ace could feel his cheeks heat up. “’m Not cute,” he said pouting.

“Way to prove your point.” Izo chuckled.

Ace decided to change the subject. “So, you guys swam a lot growing up?”

“I didn’t.” When Ace looked at Izo, he snorted. “If man was meant to swim, we would have grown tails.”

Ace chuckled. “You would be a pretty mermaid.”

“Please, I would be a fabulous mermaid.” Izo rolled his eyes.

Ace looked at Marco. “Join me?” he asked pleading.

“Why not.” He started to shrug off his jacket.

“I’m heading inside,” Izo said. Halfway to the door he turned around. “Marco, don’t get your bandages wet and don’t do anything dirty in the pool. People use that.”

“Right, bandages.” Marco sighed and toed off his sandals, putting his feet in the water while he sat on the edge of the pool. “Seems like I can’t swim today.”

Ace pouted a little, but still took off his clothes aside from his underwear and jumped into the water. When he came back up, he wiped the hair from his face when he noticed that Marco’s eyes were glued to his wet body. He smirked. “Like what you see?”

“You doubted that?”

Ace grinned and swam towards him, coming to a stop between his legs and placing his foot in the hollow in the wall. “No, I got that you liked me.” He smirked again.

Marco leaned over and kissed Ace, while he let his fingers run over Ace’s wet skin. “You really are never cold, are you?” he asked when they parted.

Ace leaned with his hands on Marco’s upper legs and smirked. “Nope.”

Suddenly, he lost his footing and, with a yelp, he disappeared underwater, pulling Marco with him. Gasping for air, they both came up again, and Ace spit out some water.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “So much for not getting your bandages wet.”

“I’ll change them.” Without any warning, Marco dove on him, pushing him under water. Before Ace could react, lips were pressed against his, and he felt a little light-headed, wondering whether the kiss or the water was the cause. When a thought popped up that Marco would make a pretty mermaid as well, he decided it must be lack of oxygen, and he gestured to Marco he needed to go up.

Marco let go of him and followed right after when he came up, wrapping his arms around Ace’s torso. “You wanna go back inside?” he whispered in Ace’s ear.

“Hm, I guess. Since we’re not allowed to do it in the pool, anyway.” Ace flashed Marco a grin and swam towards the edge of the pool. After he had climbed out, he looked around with a frown. “Maybe we should have gotten towels first.”

“Probably.”

Ace turned around when Marco spoke, the response dying on his tongue when he saw Marco climbing out of the water, his dripping wet clothes clinging to his well-defined body. His pants hung low on his lips and his abs shone through his shirt, as well as the large tattoo on his chest.

“Ace?”

“Huh?” He looked up, startled from his trance.

Marco smirked. “Try not to drool.”

Ace smirked. “We’re wet already, anyway.” He cast a glance at the house and when it seemed like no one was approaching, he shed off his underpants and pulled up his shorts. Marco looked at him amused. “Trying to give Thatch a heart attack?”

Ace shrugged. “If he doesn’t try to get into my pants, he doesn’t need to know.” He threw his boxers over a garden chair to dry.

“I’d like to see him try.” Marco shook his head. “I’m going to change. You need anything?” he asked as they reached the staircase. When Ace shook his head, he got a quick kiss before Marco disappeared upstairs.

Arriving back in the living room, the brothers looked up. Luffy had already joined them, babbling with Haruta.

“Had a nice swim?” Rakuyo asked, taking a swig from his beer bottle.

“Yeah, great pool. Can I ask you guys something?” He had their interest immediately, so he continued: “Marco said you guys all have a tattoo. Can I see them?”

The brothers exchanged a glance, and the next moment they were in various stages of undressing. Ace looked with interest at the ink on their bodies. The shape was the same, but they all had them in a different place and the size and colour varied as well. None of them was as large as Marco’s, though.

Marco just came back down, drying his hair with a towel. When he saw several of his brothers without a shirt or their pants dropped, he raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“Ace wanted to see our tattoos.” Izo pulled his kimono in place, hiding the ink on his shoulder blade again. The others started to dress themselves as well.

Thatch slung his shirt over his shoulder. “I thought you weren’t allowed to swim,” he commented.

Marco exchanged a look with Ace. “I fell in.”

Izo snorted. “Thatch, please. Put your shirt back on. People need to keep their food down.”

Thatch huffed, but did as he was asked. Ace was a little surprised. Insofar he just saw, Thatch had the nicest body out of all the brothers, aside from Marco, of course. But Thatch and Izo were always bickering, so he brushed it off as normal teasing.

“Speaking of being repulsed by you, what’s this I’m hearing about you having a girlfriend?” Rakuyo asked Thatch.

“What the hell do you mean, ‘repulsed by me’?” Thatch asked offendedly.

Rakuyo exchanged a look with Izo. “Well…” the first started.

Thatch snorted. “Never mind. And I _do_ have a girlfriend. Her name’s Nojiko, and we’ve been on two dates,” he added proudly.

“Two dates, and you’re already calling her your girlfriend?” Namur commented.

“She agreed to a third.”

“Is she coming today?” Haruta piped up.

Thatch scratched the back of his head. “Well, no. She had to go out of town suddenly.”

“How convenient,” Izo snorted.

“What do you mean by that?” Thatch frowned.

Izo rolled his eyes. “None of us has ever seen this so called ‘girlfriend’, and when you have the chance to introduce us, she’s out of town? Come on.”

Thatch jumped up. “You think I made her up?”

Izo exchanged a meaningful glance with Rakuyo. “I’m not saying _that_ …”

“Good, ‘cause she’s real, you know. Ask Ace, he introduced us.” Thatch looked expectantly at Ace.

Suddenly, all eyes were on Ace, who until then had watched amusedly to the scene in front of him, so he decided to add a little extra. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Thatch,” he said, feigning ignorance.

Thatch was obviously not amused and turned to Marco. “Come on, you know her too! Tell them!”

When Marco merely shrugged, Thatch let out a frustrated sound, and Ace had trouble holding his laughter back. Unfortunately, Luffy was there too and slow as usually. Confused, he looked from the annoyed Thatch to his brother. “Eh? But you do know Nojiko, Ace.”

Ace burst out into laugher, though Thatch looked ready to strangle him. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. It was just too funny.” He grinned at Marco, who smirked back.

“So, was Thatch telling the truth?” Namur inquired.

“I only know they went on a date. Did Nami say anything?” Ace asked Luffy.

But his brother shrugged. “I dunno.”

Ace sighed. It wasn’t like Luffy’s best feature was being a good listener.

“It _is_ true, dammit! She’s great and she likes me too. So there!” Thatch folded his arms across his chest and let himself fall on the couch, not even trying to hide his pout.

Rakuyo snickered and patted him on the back. “Come on, lighten up. We’re just teasing. So, what’s she like?”

Thatch’s face brightened immediately. “She’s great. Really pretty and smart…”

While he rambled on, Marco said to Izo: “You want to go get the presents from the car?”

“Yes, please,” Izo answered and followed him to the door.

When they were almost outside, Thatch called after him: “Don’t you wanna hear about my girlfriend?” He almost sounded hurt.

Izo turned around and placed a hand on his hips. “Let me guess, large breast, tiny waist? I’ll meet her next time. If you can manage to keep her that long.”

Thatch huffed offendedly and let himself fall against the back of the couch again. It was quiet for a moment, but then the chatter resumed. Ace listened to Thatch for a while, but he knew Nojiko already anyway, so he decided to help Marco and Izo. It took them long enough to come back.

Outside, however, he stopped. A few yards away from him, next to Izo’s car, Izo was standing next to Marco, his face buried in the crook of Marco’s neck. Marco had an arm around his brother and a grim look on his face.

“Izo, are you okay?” Ace hurried towards them.

“Ace! What are you doing here?” Izo tried to hide it, but it was obvious he was upset about something.

“I came to help you carry the presents. But what’s wrong?” he added worriedly.

“Nothing. It’s just…” Izo looked at Marco and then threw his arms around Ace. “I’m getting so old!”

Ace patted him on the back, a little confused. “It’s okay… How old are you?”

“That’s not polite to ask,” Izo sniffled.

Ace rolled his eyes. “Why is everyone so secretive about their age? Is that a family thing?”

Izo looked up and shot a glance at Marco. “You still haven’t told him?”

Marco shook his head, a mysterious smile on his face.

Ace continued to comfort Izo, though there was something off about the situation. Izo had seemed fine a moment ago.

At that moment, Thatch came outside. “Guys, what’s taking you so long?” When he saw Izo, he hurried over. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Don’t lie to me. You’re upset.” His eyes turned to Ace, who was still trying to comfort Izo. “Did you do this to him, hm?!”

Surprised and a little confused, Ace shook his head. “No, he says–”

Before he could finish his sentence, Thatch had pulled Izo away from him and loomed threateningly over Ace. “He was fine just a minute ago and now he’s upset? What did you say to him, hm?” He pocked Ace in his chest.

“Thatch, stop it,” Marco said warningly.

“Really, Thatch, it’s not his fault.” Izo sounded almost pleading.

Thatch looked suspiciously at Ace, but then turned around and scratched the back of his head. “Then what is it?”

“Nothing, I just realised I’m getting old.” Izo looked to the floor.

“Come on, you’re not old.” Thatch wrapped an arm around his brother. “Marco’s older than you are.”

“Aha!” Ace exclaimed, even though that didn’t help him anything further to determine Marco’s age.

“I’ll get you some cake, that’ll make you feel better.” Thatch guided Izo back to the house. “You guys can take care of the presents, right?” he called over his shoulder. He didn’t wait for an answer.

Musing, Ace stared after the two. “There wouldn’t be…”

Behind him, Marco sighed. “They were really close growing up. But whatever you are thinking, it’s not my place to confirm or deny it. Let’s just get these presents.”

Ace nodded and helped Marco carry the things inside. There, the others were already waiting. There were some snacks placed on the coffee table, which were busy disappearing into Luffy’s mouth.

Vista laughed. “So it does run in the family.”

Ace shrugged and sat down next to his brother. “Living with him, if you don’t eat fast, you don’t eat at all.” He caressed his brother’s hair lovingly.

Gifts were exchanged between the brothers. Curiel was the first to receive a present and tearing off the paper, a bottle of whiskey was revealed. The soldier smirked. “Well, it’s no jar, but…”

Ace looked around confused when suddenly the brothers started to laugh loudly, and several instruments were taken out which Ace only now noticed had been put ready. Ace couldn’t help but feel excited when Kingdew played an intro on his violin.

_As I was goin' over the far famed Kerry mountains,  
I met with Captain Farrell, and his money he was counting._

The song went on that the guy robbed the captain, but soon Curiel’s remark became clear when the chorus started.

_Musha rin du-rum do du-rum da, Whack fol de daddy-o,  
Whack fol de daddy-o, There's whiskey in the jar._

Luffy looked up delighted and even forgot to eat for a moment. He joined in on the song, even though he didn’t know any of the words. Ace laughed and looked around. All the brothers enthusiastically sang along, even Marco. The song continued about the robber, who gave the money to his girlfriend, but the woman betrayed him and warned the captain from the first stanza. The robber is caught when he is about to take a nap. His biggest regret seems to be never to be able to drink whiskey anymore.

The last notes died away after the chorus had been repeated several times, and the brothers burst into laughter.

“But seriously, perhaps we should give all the whiskey at the same time, so we won’t have to sing it hundreds of times,” Haruta grinned.

“I’ll go, I don’t have whiskey.” Izo grabbed one of the packages he had brought – or rather, which Ace and Marco had taken inside.

Much to Ace’s surprise, it was pressed into his hands. “It’s not my birthday,” he said confused.

“It’s for Marco too,” Izo said with a smirk that unsettled Ace a little. Still, he started to unwrap the present, all eyes of the curious brothers at him.

A piece of deep red cloth was revealed when the paper was torn away. Frowning, Ace folded it out, only to let it drop with a yelp. He jumped up. “You told him?!” he yelled at Marco. “It was a fucking joke. What the hell?!”

Marco couldn’t suppress an amused smile. “I didn’t tell him anything,” he said as he picked up the dress and studied it carefully. It was a simple dress, made from a soft, silky fabric.

“Told me what?” Izo asked curiously.

His cheeks bright red, Ace looked around to the sixteen pairs of eyes looking at him. “Well,” he started embarrassedly, “when Marco took me to one of his trainings with the kids he introduced me as his lovely assistant. So I asked, _sarcastically_ , if he saw me wearing a pink dress with spangles. You know, like a magician’s assistant?” He looked pleadingly at Vista.

“Oh honey,” Izo placed one leg over the other elegantly, “pink is not your colour.”

If possible, his cheeks turned an even brighter red, coming close to the colour of the dress. “That’s not the point!”

In the meantime, Luffy had gotten his hands on the dress. “Ooooh, Ace. You would look so pretty in this.” Of course, there wasn’t a trace of sarcasm in his voice, and Ace hoped the ground would swallow him up soon, especially after seeing Izo’s triumphant face.

Marco rose as well and wrapped his arms around the mortified Ace. “I honestly didn’t say anything. Izo tries to get everyone to wear a dress. It was just matter of time before he tried it with you.”

“And with some he succeeds, eh Marco?” Fossa smirked around his cigar.

Marco shot him a glare. “Shut up, I was drunk.”

Ace whipped around. “That’s right, you mentioned something like that on our first date! I’ll tell you what, if you show me a picture of you in that dress, I’ll wear that.” He pointed to the dress Luffy was still holding.

“I might have something for you,” Izo said with a mischievous smile.

“You swore you destroyed all evidence,” Marco growled.

“I did, but I happen to be an amazing artist with a very good memory.”

Ace smiled triumphantly.

“Which brings me to my second gift,” Izo continued. “Since you’re so possessive about your new toy, Marco, I’m willing to make a painting of the both of you.”

Excited, despite being referred to as ‘toy’, Ace turned towards Marco. He had loved the paintings Izo had made of his brothers, and of him, he had only made charcoal drawings. Which were of course amazing too, but an actual painting would be nice.

Marco smiled at him and pressed a kiss on his temple. To Izo he said: “Thank you, that would be great. But I’m not that possessive.”

Ace snorted. “Yeah, right. When a random stranger does as much as look at me, you’re ready to break his neck.”

The others started to laugh, and Marco did not seem amused.

“By the way,” Rakuyo asked when they resumed the exchanging of gifts. “What did Ace get you, Marco?”

Marco scratched the back of his head. “Pineapples,” he sighed eventually.

Rakuyo raised his eyebrow. “Why?”

“Really? You don’t think this hairstyle makes him look like one?” Ace entangled his fingers with the blond strands while Marco shot him a deadly look and the others laughed.

Rakuyo cocked his head a little, studying his blond brother. “I always thought his hair looked more like a banana peel.”

Laughter erupted once more, much to Marco’s displeasure. When people finally calmed down, Ace continued: “And I also wanted to find out if it’s true what they say about pineapples~” He teasingly kissed his boyfriend’s cheek.

“That they dissolve flesh?” Fossa asked musing.

Marco almost spit out his beer, and Ace’s eyes grew wide. “They do that?”

“Well, they contain an enzyme that does. Come on Marco, you watch all those gory detectives, you know this.” Fossa pressed out his cigar in the ashtray.

“I wasn’t really thinking about flesh eating enzymes at the time,” Marco muttered.

“So if that’s not what you wanted to find out, what is?” Haruta asked curiously.

“He wanted to know if the pineapple really had an anti-inflammatory effect,” Marco quickly said, and Ace hid his face in the crook of Marco’s neck not to burst into laughter.

When he had his breath under control again, he rose again and said: “But I have something else for you too.”

“I hope it’s not in the same line as what you gave me before.”

Ace snickered. “It’s from Luffy and me both. Come on, Lu.”

His brother followed him into the hallway, leaving the others curiously behind. They hadn’t been able to take Marco’s present on the motorcycle, contrary to the gifts for the others that Luffy had in his backpack. So Ace had asked Izo to take it with him in his car, which meant there was a risk that Marco had already noticed. Ace had taken it from the backseat and placed it in the hallway while Marco had been taking things out of the trunk of the car.

Ace picked up the cage with the cloth over it and grinned. He was really excited about giving it to Marco. Luffy asked if he could carry the cage, so he let him, but not without warning him to be careful.

When they entered the living room, Marco lifted an eyebrow. “I think it’s safe to say that’s it’s not a pineapple. Wait, wasn’t this in the backseat of the car, Izo? You said it was for a friend.”

“Well, if I said it was for you, it wouldn’t have been a surprise, now would it?” Izo snorted.

Proudly, Luffy put the cage down with as much gentleness as he could muster. “Ace said we couldn’t take it on the motorcycle.”

“I can see that.” Marco first eyed the cage and then Ace, who was practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Come on, open it.”

A little hesitantly, Marco reached for the cloth and pulled it away. He was met by a small bird with blue and yellow feathers. He couldn’t suppress a smile. “You got me a parakeet?”

“An elegant parrot,” Ace corrected him a little smugly. “Well, it’s a kind of parakeet. Do you like it? It reminded me of you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I look like a bird?”

“Well, no. But with your nickname and that painting Izo made… It was with blue and yellow as well…” Ace’s voice trailed off, and he pouted a little. “You don’t like it?”

Marco rose and walked over to Ace. “Of course I do. Thank you.” He kissed him.

Ace’s face brightened. “It’s from Luffy too. It was actually his idea. Well, after I rejected meat.”

“Who doesn’t want meat?” Luffy said shaking his head, but then he grinned and looked up to Marco from where he was crouching next to the cage. “I told him to get a bigger bird, since this one is only a bundle of feathers. No meat at all. But Ace wanted this one.”

“Well, thank you too.” Marco petted Luffy on the head. Luffy grinned at him again and went back to staring at the bird.

They exchanged a few more gifts, and the brothers fawned over Marco’s new bird, which Ace insisted he should call Phoenix, when upstairs some rummaging about could be heard, and someone started descending the stairs. It had to be a very large person, judging by the small earthquake he caused. The Whitebeard brothers didn’t seem worried though.

“Looks like Pops is awake,” Thatch said cheerfully.

Ace looked at Marco, dread written all over his face. Marco took his hand and squeezed is gently.

Heavy footsteps approached, and then a huge man appeared in the doorway. He was hooked up on several medical apparatus, amongst them an oxygen tube, and followed by two nurses. He was bare chested, with a black bandana tied around his probably bald head and an enormous white moustache.

Ace looked up at him and swallowed. He was finally going to meet Whitebeard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is "Whiskey in the Jar". I used the version by Santiano


	24. Chapter 24

“Pops!”

Excitedly, the brothers rose and crowded together around the man that had just entered, while Ace tried to make himself as small as possible. He wasn’t ready for this, he decided, but there was no way he could back out of it now. The brothers chatted excitedly with the man they called their father, and Whitebeard congratulated the birthday boys.

Ace looked next to him, but the space Luffy had occupied was empty. Panicking, Ace looked around, but soon he heard his brother’s voice.

“Hi, I’m Luffy. Your moustache is _awesome_!”

Ace didn’t have to see him to know Luffy’s eyes were shining. Ace peeked from his spot on the couch to the place where Luffy had pushed himself forward to Whitebeard.

“Hi Luffy,” Whitebeard said with a deep, warm voice. “So how do you know my boys?”

“I’m Ace’s brother!” With a beaming smile, Luffy pointed at Ace.

Ace tried to disappear into the couch, but when it was obvious everyone could still see him, he offered a shaky smile.

“So,” Whitebeard looked him up and down, “you’re the brat who’s been dating Marco.”

Alas, his temper got the better of him and, forgetting he was meeting his boyfriend’s father, he shot to his feet and barked: “Who are you calling a brat, old man?”

Immediately, he realised what he had said and slapped a hand over his mouth. Why was he such an idiot? The couch hadn’t been willing to swallow him, maybe he would have more luck with the ground.

Whitebeard stared at him in surprise for a moment, but then burst into laughter. Ace looked around wide eyed as the brothers started laughing too, and even Luffy was grinning.

Marco made his way out of the crowd to the still confused Ace and nuzzled his hair. “Just relax,” he whispered in Ace’s ear, and, reluctantly, Ace let himself be led until he stood before Whitebeard. “Pops, I would like you to meet Ace. Ace, this is Edward Newgate, better known around here as Pops.”

Ace looked up at the enormous man before him and was taken a little aback by the kind eyes that looked down on him, and the warm smile he received. A large hand enclosed around his own.

“It is nice to finally meet you, Ace. I’m not lying when I say that I’ve heard a lot about you.” Edward Newgate shot a look at Marco, who was conveniently looking away.

Whitebeard’s hand was warm, but also held him in a firm grip as he observed him closely. Ace was getting nervous and just shot a look for help at Marco when Whitebeard let go.

“Marco, why don’t you go walk Stefan?” Edward Newgate asked.

Ace looked at Marco and fervently shook his head with a pleading look on his face, but Marco pried himself loose from his death grip nonetheless and made his way outside.

“I’m going to prepare the food. Come on guys.” Thatch left too, followed by the rest of the brothers.

“Luffy,” Jozu called, “you want to help light the barbeque?”

“Yosh, meat!” The little traitor ran after them.

Ace made a panicking sound that sounded almost like a squeak. How could they all do this to him?

“Take a seat, Ace.”

Reluctantly, he did as he was asked. It stayed silent in the room for a moment, deafeningly so to Ace after the laughter from before. Still, he hardly dared to breathe in fear of being too loud.

Whitebeard looked at him for a moment, before smiling fondly. “I’m not going to eat you, you know.”

“Please, after living with Luffy for so long without being eaten, I don’t fear that anymore,” Ace huffed, and Whitebeard burst into laughter again.

When he had calmed down, Edward Newgate said: “Marco says you’re Garp’s grandson.”

“Yeah,” Ace looked at the floor, “not related by blood, though. Luffy is. Gramps adopted me after my mother died right after I was born.”

“How is he?”

Ace remembered Marco saying that Gramps and his Pops had known each other at some point. “He’s doing okay. He’s chief of police now and not even thinking about retiring.”

Whitebeard hummed and seemed lost in thought for a moment, before he shook his head. “I’m not here to bring back memories. We should discuss you and your plans with my son.”

Ace scratched the back of his head. “I don’t have any concrete plans.”

“But you like him?”

“Obviously.” Ace rolled his eyes, but then smiled. “I never met anyone like him. I mean, he’s smart and funny and ho–” he cleared his throat when he realised he was speaking with Marco’s father and continued: “Anyway, yes, I like him a lot.”

Whitebeard’s face suddenly turned a little sad. “You know he likes you too, right? Family is the most important thing in the world to him, and you’re his family now. Everything he does, he does with the best intentions. But he is only human.”

Ace frowned in confusion, but then said: “I know Marco has done some things that aren’t exactly legal. I also know that he had to change his last name. I don’t care. I want to be with him.”

“That is good to know.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Mr eh… Newgate.” Ace smirked at him.

Whitebeard smiled and ruffled his hair. “I’ll remember that. And please, call me Pops.”

* * *

When Marco returned with Stefan a while later, the first thing he was met with was Ace’s voice yelling: “I’m going to take your head, old man!”

Wondering what the hell had gone wrong while he was away, Marco barged into the living room. There, he saw Ace and Pops sitting, each on one side of a chessboard. They were surrounded by several of his brothers and Luffy, and Ace was looking quite smug while he said: “Check.”

Whitebeard smiled and moved one of his pieces. “Checkmate.”

“What the hell?!” Ace exclaimed as he stared disbelievingly to the board.

Kingdew burst into laughter. “You really thought you could beat Pops at chess?”

“Shut up. It’s a stupid game anyway,” Ace muttered.

Stefan chose that moment to burst into the room, still wet from when he had dived into a pond to catch a stick, and enthusiastically greeted his owner, but not before tackling Ace onto the floor. Whitebeard laughed and petted the animal.

“Marco, you’re back,” Ace said while he scrambled to his feet and greeted him.

“Yes. So it went well, I see?” He returned the kiss.

Ace’s eyes were sparkling. “It sure did. I really like your dad. I can call him Pops as well. And he told me a lot about you.” He bit his lip with a teasing smile on his face as he played with Marco’s shirt.

Despite the fact that he trusted his father to keep his secret, Marco’s heart sped up a little at that. “Really?”

“Yes! Marco, you were so cute as a kid!” Ace grinned broadly. “He showed me pictures. With that little blond tuft on your head… Gah!” Ace gasped as he was tackled on the couch by Marco.

“I’m not cute, you understand?”

“You call me cute all the time,” Ace protested.

“That’s because you are.”

“So are you.” To prevent him from responding, Ace pulled Marco into a kiss and switched their positions.

“Keep it decent you two!” Rakuyo called laughing from the other side of the room.

Ace was about to climb off Marco, when he was suddenly jumped by someone with an exclamation of: “Yay, fight!”

Luffy’s unexpected extra weight on Ace’s back made him collapse. His elbow slipped off Marco’s leg and landed in Marco’s groin. Marco let out a pained groan.

“Luffy, get off!” Worriedly, Ace looked down at Marco. “Shit Marco, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” His voice came out a little higher than usual. Around them, the brothers looked at him with faces that said they knew exactly how that felt.

Ace started scolding his brother. “Dammit Luffy, don’t jump me like that. Look what you’ve done!”

“But it looked fun!” Luffy said pouting.

“I’ll go put some ice on it,” Marco muttered and limped towards the kitchen. From the freezer, he retrieved some ice, which he pressed against his crotch after having put it in a bag. A few minutes later, Ace and Luffy came in, the latter to apologise. When Marco said it was okay, he happily bounced outside to see how the meat was coming along.

“You sure you’re okay?” Ace asked worriedly.

Marco smiled weakly. “I grew up with fourteen brothers, remember? A knee or elbow to the groin happened often enough.” With a quick kiss, he sent Ace back to the living room.

After a while, the ice started to do its work. In the meantime, he had seen Luffy pass him several times with a plate filled with food, only to return a few minutes later with an empty one. If he didn’t know any better, he would think Luffy handed out the food.

Suddenly, excited chatter sounded from the living room, and, curiously, Marco peeked his head around the corner. It appeared that an old friend of his had arrived.

“Makino!” the brothers yelled enthusiastically.

She chuckled. “Hi guys. Sorry I’m late.”

“Nah, the others aren’t even here yet,” Vista shrugged. “Besides, we heard you had a doctor’s appointment. You okay?”

“Everything is fine,” she answered smiling.

At that moment, Ace, who apparently had gone to the bathroom, entered the living room again. When he saw Makino, he froze and suddenly bowed down. Luffy came in from the kitchen, munching on a steak and also seemed surprised to see her.

“My, Ace, Luffy, you boys have grown so much,” Makino said warmly. “You can straighten again now, Ace,” she added when Ace hadn’t moved in a while. “But I’m glad to see my lessons paid off.”

“What are you doing here?” Ace asked as he returned her hug.

“I’m here for my husband.”

Ace looked surprised at her. “Your husband?”

“That would be me.” Curiel stepped forward and wrapped an arm around the smiling Makino.

Ace’s jaw dropped. “You’re the husband who’s always away?”

“Is Makino married?” Luffy asked, sucking on the bone that was left of the steak.

Ace hit him in the head for being stupid. “You don’t remember her telling that several times?”

Luffy pulled a painful face – his thinking face – but then shook his head with a grin. “I remember her making me meat, though.”

Makino chuckled. “You two haven’t changed a bit. But it is really a nice coincidence that you started dating Marco.” She smiled at Marco, who was still standing near the kitchen door.

“Makino, dear, do you want anything to drink? Since those Neanderthals haven’t offered you anything,” Izo interrupted.

“Some juice would be nice, thank you.”

“Come on, Makino, you own a bar, you’ve got to drink sometime,” Rakuyo commented.

“I can’t.”

“Why not? You can sleep here tonight, no need to drive home.”

“That’s not the problem.” She exchanged a look with Curiel. “They’re doctor’s orders.” Her eyes glistened.

The room became quiet until the information started to dawn on the people present. Marco was the first to respond, kissing Makino on the cheek and slapping his brother on the shoulder while congratulating them both.

“Makino, you’re pregnant?” Ace asked disbelievingly.

She chuckled between kisses, hugs, and handshakes from her other in-laws, who had been brought to life by Marco’s actions. “It would appear so.”

Luffy picked his nose and was just looking at his treasure when the information dawned on him too. “You’re pregnant?”

Curiel petted him on the head before leading Makino before his father, who was radiating pride. Marco sat back down on the couch, and Ace crawled up against him. “So, are you excited about becoming an uncle again?” Ace asked.

Marco smiled and pulled him close. Jozu and Kingdew both followed in their father’s footsteps and adopted their children, but he was excited for Curiel and Makino as well.

“Speaking of which, how are your family jewels?” Ace continued.

“I wasn’t planning on getting anyone pregnant, but they’re fine,” he said teasingly.

Jozu came in from tending to the barbeque, assisted by Haruta, who had been serving out plates. The former congratulated the couple as well, having been informed by Haruta. Then he turned to Ace. “How do you like your steak?”

“With another one next to it,” he answered with a grin.

Izo snorted. “I can’t believe you’re the modest one in the family.” He pointed at Luffy, who was trying to steal off Fossa’s plate. Fossa, who was a cop, had quick reflexes and pinned him down, sitting on top of him while Luffy whined he was hungry. Marco looked contently at the warm smile on Ace’s face, before Ace decided to give his brother a hand.

During the barbeque, several of the other wives – or Amazons, as they were affectionately called – dropped in, along with Jozu’s and Kingdew’s children, who immediately were entertained by Luffy.

Rakuyo dropped next to Marco and Ace on the couch, stuffing his face with potato salad. When his mouth was mostly empty, he said to Marco: “You know Red’s coming too, right?”

“Yeah, he texted me. Though I didn’t think he would pass on a party, anyway,” Marco answered, taking another bite.

Ace looked from one to the other. “Who?”

Marco sighed. “Shanks.”

“Oh.” Ace immediately started to pout.

Rakuyo let out a laugh. “What, you don’t like Shanks?”

“Oh, I like him alright. He’s a great _godfather_ to Luffy.” Ace crossed his arms before his chest.

Rakuyo looked at Marco. “That’s the same Luffy?”

Marco sighed again. “Of course he is.”

Rakuyo turned to Ace. “And I take it you’re jealous of Marco’s past relationship?”

“Not jealous…” Ace muttered as he slid lower on the couch. “It’s just… weird.”

“Really? Why?” Rakuyo inquired. “Shanks is very open about his sexuality, so you must have encountered or heard about some of his lovers. Besides, when he and Marco broke up, it wasn’t even legal for my brother to date you.” He shoved another bite into his mouth.

Ace stayed quiet for a moment. He supposed Rakuyo meant that Marco and Shanks went out when he was still under-aged, so that was at least four years ago. He could live with that. As a peace offer, he crawled up against Marco and gave him a peck on the lips. His affections were enthusiastically returned.

Rakuyo rose. “Glad I could save your relationship, but please eat the food instead of each other.” Shaking his head, he wandered off.

* * *

The food – which, much to Luffy’s joy, consisted mostly of meat – kept coming, and there was enough booze to last even the most notorious alcoholic a lifetime. More guests arrived, old friends and people from the orphanages. Marco didn’t have much time for Ace, seeing he was the host and one of the birthday boys, but Ace didn’t mind that much. He met a lot of interesting people, amongst them a blue haired woman named Whitey Bay, who apparently went to school with some of the brothers. She didn’t specify whom, but Whitey was a lot of fun to talk to. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that she was officially part of the Whitebeard family as well.

Ace tried to keep his drinking to a minimum, as he was still on medication for his narcolepsy, but people kept shoving beers into his hand. Law would castrate him if he saw him drinking, so it was a good thing he had decided not to invite his sadistic friend. Ace tried to keep an eye on Luffy, make sure he didn’t get drunk, but after Luffy had declared he didn’t drink, no one there tried to push him. Ace couldn’t help but think that Zoro would have felt instantly at home here and made a mental note to invite him to the next party.

Suddenly, he felt a friendly slap on his shoulder and turning around, he saw Rakuyo standing behind him. “You asked me a while back that you wanted me to paint your motorcycle. You have it with you now, yeah? Show me.”

Ace led the way outside and pointed to his motorcycle, not able to hide his proud face. His vehicle was his pride and joy. It had taken him quite a while to save money for it, and he had painted it himself once, but the flames hadn’t come out as well as he had hoped.

Rakuyo whistled. “Nice ride. Can I try?”

Ace threw him the keys, and Rakuyo took a seat on the saddle. “So, what’s she called?” he asked with a smirk.

“How– I mean, I didn’t name her.” Embarrassedly, Ace looked away.

Rakuyo gave him a deadpanned look, and he sighed. “She’s called the Striker.”

Rakuyo laughed and turned on the ignition. He drove a small lap around the drive, humming approvingly when he came to a halt in front of Ace. “She drives very smoothly, so I won’t have to do anything about the engine. So just a paint job?”

“Sounds good. I’d like to have the flames redone.”

“You did ‘em yourself?”

“Yeah, when I was eighteen.”

Rakuyo turned off the engine and got off the motorcycle. “Not bad for a rookie. But just stop by at my garage, and I’ll see if I can outdo you,” he added teasingly.

Ace laughed, and they made their way back inside again. As soon as he set foot on the doorstep, Ace was pulled was pulled along by Thatch. “Come on, I want to introduce you to someone!”

Leading him through the mass of people in the living room, Thatch brought him outside to the garden and stopped in front of a large, black haired man. “Ace, this is Teach. Teach, meet Ace.”

While they shook hands, Thatch continued. “Teach grew up in the Second Division orphanage. You know, the one in Marco’s care.”

“So you’re the one sleeping with our director,” Teach joked.

“Looks like it.” Ace grinned back at him.

Thatch placed his elbow on Teach’s shoulder. “I guarantee you, you won’t find a funnier guy than this man.”

* * *

After having shaken many hands and received a few too many kisses, Marco was ready to find the person he did enjoy kissing, and soon found Ace outside, talking to Thatch and one of the guys from the Second Division, Teach.

Marco made his way over and wrapped his arm around Ace. “How’s it going?”

“Fine. You should hear this guy, Marco, he is hilarious.” Ace beamed up at him.

Marco forced a smile on his face. For some reason, he wasn’t as much a fan of Teach as his brothers – and now Ace – were. He snapped out of his thoughts when Thatch announced he had to go back to manage the barbeque.

His brother had barely left, when a familiar voice yelled: “Who’s ready to party?”

Marco sighed, but couldn’t hide his smirk. Shanks was fashionably late, as usual. “Excuse me,” he said to Teach and, much to his joy, Ace clung to him and came with him. He wasn’t sure how he would feel about leaving Ace alone with Teach.

He found Shanks talking with a few of his brothers, accompanied by his gang, as Marco liked to call them. Of course, Benn could be found right next to Shanks.

Shanks noticed Marco standing and grinned at him, before pulling him into a hug. “Happy birthday, man.” When he let go, he said with a smirk: “I see you brought your boy toy.”

“I see you brought your babysitter,” Marco replied dryly, shaking hands with Benn.

“He’s not my babysitter!” Shanks said all but pouting.

“And still I’m the one driving your drunken ass home,” Benn said sighing. “Ace, nice to see you again.”

Shanks snorted, but did nothing to deny it – which would be hard anyway, as he was already holding a bottle of rum. “Marco, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Marco nodded, already having a feeling what this was about, and giving Ace a quick peck on his hair, he followed Shanks to a more quiet corner of the garden – which weren’t many to chose from. “So, what did you find out?”

“That Akainu is not the kind of guy you want to mess with. Well, not the kind of man normal people want to mess with. You’ll be fine. The most important thing is that people that oppose him either relent suddenly or just disappear.”

“I’m not surprised by either, really,” Marco remarked, crossing his arms before his chest. “Since the latter is exactly what he is trying to do to Ace.”

“Yeah, about that. It appears he doesn’t see Ace as that much of a threat, or just enjoys playing with him. If he seriously wanted him dead, he wouldn’t be dancing around like that.” Shanks nodded in the direction where Ace was doing something that resembled dancing to the beat of the music the brothers had started playing again.

Marco smiled a little, though he should probably warn Ace not to drink anymore. “Anything else?” he inquired. “Location? Weak points?”

“Just a rumour that he has hired a band of assassins who are very good at their job and merciless. So keep an eye on your man, okay?” Shanks gave him an encouraging slap on the arm, but looked a little worried.

“I will.”

The frown disappeared and made place for the everlasting smile. “I never doubted that. Makino!” he shouted when he recognised her, and he stormed off.

Shaking his head, Marco made his way back to where he had left Ace. As soon as Ace noticed him, he pulled Marco onto the improvised dance floor. “Marco~ Dance with me!”

“How much did you have to drink?” Marco asked as Ace wrapped his arms around his neck.

“Not that much. I think.”

Marco rolled his eyes.

“So what did you talk about?” Ace asked curiously.

Marco hummed. “You, of course.”

“If you’re gonna say ‘m cute again, ‘m gonna kick you!”

Marco chuckled and pressed a kiss on his temple. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Ace!” Thatch’s voice sounded annoyed and, a few seconds later, the pompadour emerged from the crowd. Thatch was holding tongs, between them a piece of cloth, and holding it as far away from himself as possible.

Marco burst into laughter when he recognised Ace’s boxers he had left outside after he had swum in them.

Ace also started to snicker, but tried to keep a straight face. “Yes?”

“Stop leaving your underwear lie about in other people’s houses!”

“How do you know they’re even mine?” Ace challenged.

“Are you wearing any right now?”

“I don’t know, lemme check.”

He was about to pull at the rim of his rim of his pants, when Thatch flung the boxers at him. “Just keep them on from now on!”

Ace shrugged. “You’re the one that suggested I swam in my underwear. And they’re clean, you know.”

“They’ve touched your junk, that means they’re not clean.” Thatch snorted.

A mischievous grin appeared on Ace’s face. “Oh? Then you must think Marco isn’t clean either. You wouldn’t believe…”

He started to laugh when Thatch stormed off, and Marco couldn’t suppress a chuckle either. Still, he gave Ace a reprimanding squeeze in his ass. “And just how was that sentence going to end?”

Ace snickered. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to choose from all the dirty things you’ve done to me~”

Playfully, Marco bit his ear, and Ace wrapped his arms around him again laughing.

A while later, Makino approached him to tell them she was leaving. The party was starting to get wild, and more and more people got drunk. Most people with kids had already left.

“Oh, and Luffy is asleep on the couch,” Makino told Ace as she pressed a final kiss on Marco’s cheek.

“I should probably get him home then.” Ace seemed reluctantly to go.

“Can’t you stay a while longer?” Marco asked. He knew Ace was torn, but he really didn’t want him to go.

“I can bring your brother home if you like,” Makino offered.

Ace’s face brightened. “That would be great. Thank you! Isn’t Curiel going with you?”

She chuckled. “Nah, he needs to be with his brothers right now. I’ll see him tomorrow again.”

Ace nodded. “Okay, I’ll help you put Luffy in the car.” He gave Marco a kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

Marco nodded and mingled again with his friends and family. He was just sitting at the table talking to Whitey, when a bottle of rum and a shot glass were slammed in front of him. Looking up, he was surprised to see Ace with a disturbingly determined face. “What’s going on?”

“We’re dating for a while now, and I still have no idea how old you are, even though I’m at your birthday. And nobody wants to tell me,” he added pouting.

Whitey snickered. “You still haven’t told him?”

Marco shrugged and turned to Ace. “So what’s the booze for?”

“Either you just tell me, or I’m going to guess and every time I’m wrong, you have to drink.” Ace folded his arms before his chest, daring him to back down.

Marco looked from Ace to Whitey and then poured himself a glass. “Go ahead.”

“Forty four.”

Marco drank the rum.

“Forty three.”

He emptied another glass.

“Forty two?”

Marco gave up pouring the glasses and opted for drinking directly from the bottle. More people seemed to realise the game and started to encourage Ace, shouting random numbers. It confused Ace and he named several numbers twice. Marco, being a good sportsman, drunk again.

Thatch made his way through the crowd and whispered something in Ace’s ear.

“Oi, you can’t help him!” Marco protested. He could already feel the effects of the alcohol, since he had already had a few glasses – bottles – before Ace’s silly drinking game.

“Two hundred and fifty two,” Ace declared proudly.

“What? No one’s that old,” Marco growled.

“It’s a number, isn’t it? So drink up.” Ace was a little too smug. Was he trying to get him drunk? Oh well, booze was booze. So he took another draught.

Other ridiculous numbers were called, but at a certain point Ace told everyone to shut up. “I don’t remember which ones I did. So, I’ll just start over. One.”

Marco took the last sip from the bottle, only to have in immediately replaced by a full one again. Halfway through it, he commented: “I don’t think you’re going to guess it, yoi.”

Confused, Ace looked at him. “What did you call me?”

“Oh, no. That just means he’s getting drunk.” Izo placed a hand on Ace’s arm and giggled, obviously intoxicated himself.

“I’m not drunk, yoi.”

“Then stop saying ‘yoi’.”

Marco snapped his jaw shut. Izo looked at him insufferably smug.

“I know I’m close. Forty two?” Ace tried again.

“I think you already did that one four times,” Whitey snickered.

“Then I don’t know. I give up. You have no age. You,” he pointed accusingly at Marco, “are just stupid phoenix who gets reborn every once in a while.”

Marco chuckled and pulled Ace in his lap, taking another draught from the bottle. “Some things are just a secret.”

“Mystery things.” Ace nodded wisely. “That’s what my brother calls ‘em.”

* * *

Ace just came from the bathroom, when he was slammed chest first into a wall. He felt a warm breath on his neck and smiled when Marco said: “You’ve been teasing me all night, yoi.”

A smirk appeared on his face when Marco pressed his groin against Ace’s ass. Ace could feel him being hard. “Is that right?”

Apparently, Marco used the word ‘yoi’ at the end of his sentences when he was drunk. It had been a habit when he was younger, but he grew out of it, or so his brothers had told Ace. Now it only resurfaced when he was hammered, so the family always knew when he had had enough. Or not enough yet.

“Walking around shirtless and dripping wet pants riding low on your hips…” Marco ground against Ace’s behind again.

Ace wasn’t sure what was going on, except for the fact that Marco was obviously drunk and horny. His little drinking game had caused Marco to drink almost two bottles of rum on top of what he had already had. After Ace had given up, the party went on like nothing happened, but at a certain point, Ace had fallen into the pool – he wasn’t the first though. The cold water had sobered him up a bit, especially after he had eaten some more. Because he was never cold and everything was a mess anyway, he had just kept on the pants he had been wearing, which were still wet. Apparently, Marco had noticed that too.

Seeing Marco drunk was an interesting development. From experience and stories, Ace knew Marco could hold his liquor. But he also knew from Sanji’s story that Marco _could_ get drunk. And now he would experience it first hand what a drunk Marco was like.

Horny would be the first thing that came to mind, as a hand suddenly grabbed at his crotch.

“Why don’t I show you to my bedroom, yoi?” Marco whispered in Ace’s ear huskily, sending involuntary shivers up his spine.

“Won’t they miss us?” Ace managed to breathe out, when he was spun around. His back hit the wall, and he had hardly time to catch his breath before a pair of hungry lips caught his own.

“They won’t realise we’re gone,” Marco answered when he let go of Ace. He moved his lips to Ace’s neck and his hands grabbed his ass.

Ace couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re really in the mood, aren’t you?”

“I’m always in the mood for you, yoi.” Marco dragged his teeth across the sensitive flesh of Ace’s neck. “You’re too hot for your own good.”

Ace snickered and let Marco lead him up the stairs. He was walking backwards and tripped halfway through, pulling Marco, who had never stopped kissing him – with him.

“I could fuck you right here,” Marco groaned.

“That might get noticed. You wouldn’t want your dad to see you, right? Or Thatch, or Haruta?” Ace pointed out. “Besides, this is hardly comfortable.”

Marco growled and pulled Ace to his feet, ushering him upstairs. He opened a seemingly random door, before pushing Ace inside. As soon as the door was closed, Marco was all over him again, working on the front of Ace’s shorts to get them off. The still damp pants had hardly reached the floor when Ace’s back hit the mattress of one of the two beds in the room. Marco dove on top of him, his hands roaming Ace’s body.

“I thought you were gonna show me your room,” Ace said teasingly the moment his mouth was uncovered.

Marco sighed annoyed. “Fine, this is my bed. That is Thatch’s, yoi. Let’s try to keep off that.” The ‘tour’ was seemingly over as Marco attacked Ace’s lips again.

“So how come you and Thatch ended up sharing a room?” Ace asked between kisses.

“Thatch came in third, yoi, right after Jozu, and because our ages are closer together, we ended up sharing.”

“So, how many years do you differ with Thatch?” Ace asked curiously. With Marco drunk, he might be able to find out his real age. He should have known better.

Marco just smirked and continued kissing him. Ace mentally shrugged and gave up; the consolation prize wasn’t half bad, anyway.

Marco kissed down his chest, dipping his tongue in Ace’s bellybutton, like he knew Ace liked. Ace’s hips jerked involuntarily, silently encouraging Marco to continue.

Suddenly, Marco looked up. “We need lube, yoi.”

“Back pocket,” Ace answered. When Marco gave him a sceptical look, he shrugged. “Never hurts to be prepared.”

Hands grabbed his ass, until Marco seemed to realise that Ace’s pants were long gone, and he stumbled towards the heap on the floor. After he retrieved the item – which took a little longer than it should have – and he had shrugged off his own clothes, he joined Ace on the bed again. Ace welcomed him with open arms.

“Turn around,” Marco growled in his ear, and, intrigued, he obliged. This was an interesting turn of events.

On his hands and knees, ass in the air, Ace felt familiar fingers intrude his body. It didn’t take him long to get used to them and, soon, he moaned for more. The digits retreated, and large hands grabbed his hips to keep him steady.

Marco teased his entrance with the tip of his lubricated cock. Ace rocked his hips back to obtain more friction, but, fortunately for him, Marco was too far gone to tease him longer. Keeping one hand on his hip, Marco slammed into him, almost causing Ace to hit his head against the headboard. Ace cried out, and he was kind of happy when he realised that downstairs the party was still going on, so people probably wouldn’t hear him.

He wasn’t going to be able to keep it down, if Marco had a say in it. Slamming into him mercilessly – and despite his state, hitting his prostate head on every time – Marco made him see stars.

“Fuck, I love your ass, yoi,” Marco groaned out.

It surprised Ace a little. Marco wasn’t much of talker during sex, or at all, for that matter, but he supposed it was the booze talking. Marco’s voice sounded different from usual, deeper, and it sent shivers up his spine.

Ace was about to reply when Marco hit his prostate again, and the only thing he could utter was a moan.

“And I love your cock.” A hand wrapped itself around his dripping erection, while light kisses were placed on his back. “Your back is so beautiful, yoi,” Marco groaned out, without missing a single beat.

Ace would have laughed, if he weren’t fucked so good right now and if Marco hadn’t sounded so serious. Even if he was drunk.

Suddenly, Marco stopped moving. Annoyed, Ace tried to get him started again by rocking his hips back, but an almost bruising grip held him in place.

“Marco~” he whined. He was getting so close.

Instead of answering, Marco let his hand slide over his erection. Ace gasped, but the hand slid further up, combing through his happy trail onto his chest. The touch was gentle but demanding, and Ace straightened until his back was flush against Marco’s chest. His body was shaking with the need to release, but he couldn’t bring himself to ruin the moment. He didn’t know what had gotten into Marco all of the sudden, but he hoped he would find out soon.

Marco moved the black strands out of the way and started kissing Ace’s neck. Ace reached back, his hand fisting in Marco’s blond hair.

“I love your neck too, yoi,” Marco mumbled against his skin.

Ace didn’t respond, only swallowed as Marco’s hands started to trace down his chest again.

“Your chest too. And your reaction when I touch your nipples.” He did just that and Ace’s hips would have jerked if Marco hadn’t still held him. With his free hand, Marco tilted Ace’s chin, so he craned his neck to kiss Marco behind him.

Then, slowly, Marco pulled out. Ace was about to protest when he gently was placed on his back on the mattress, and Marco laid down on top of him, kissing him intensely.

Ace wasn’t sure how Marco was able to go from raw, animalistic fucking to lovemaking in less than two minutes, yet here they were. Marco slowly moved inside him again. Ace closed his eyes and bit his lip when he felt full again.

“Open your eyes, yoi.”

Ace did as he was told and was met with Marco’s face close to his, small puffs of warm air caressing his cheeks.

“I love your eyes,” Marco said with a serious face. Slowly, he started to move again and kissed Ace. “And your lips.”

“You sure like a lot about me,” Ace muttered.

“And I love the way you look all flushed like this, yoi.”

Ace wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck and his legs around his waist as Marco kept moving and listing things he loved about Ace in that deep sexy voice. Ace pulled him close, as he felt his orgasm slowly built up inside him. Their previous position had already brought him close to the edge, and it didn’t take long for Marco to push him over it.

Ace was sure he hadn’t been supposed to hear Marco’s last words, why else would he wait in until Ace was distracted by his climax to say it?

Still, they echoed through his mind while he rode out his orgasm.

“I love you… Ace!”


	25. Chapter 25

The first thing Ace noticed when he woke up was a pounding headache, and the second a stinging pain in his ass. Slowly, he opened his eyes, squinting against the light that fell through the curtains. Right, he was in Marco’s old room. That explained the fact that he was lying on the edge of the bed – it was way smaller than the double bed Marco had in his own house.

Speaking of Marco, Ace noticed an arm wrapped loosely around his body, and he half turned around. Marco was lying next to him, his eyes closed and breathing regularly. Ace smiled. This was one of the first times he was awake before Marco was. Then again, Marco had been pretty drunk last night…

…Right.

The previous night, Ace had discovered Marco was a horny drunk – not that he had minded in the slightest – which ended up with them having sex in Marco’s old room – and Thatch’s, Ace remembered, though the bed next to the one he was lying in seemed untouched – and Marco had been surprisingly talkative during sex. Hell, he had been more vocal than on an average day. And Ace had discovered that he very much liked it when Marco talked during sex. He could have gotten off if Marco had been talking about the weather in that deep, sex-ridden voice. But then he hadn’t. Marco had talked about Ace. How much he liked, no, loved parts of him.

Ever since Marco’s confession in court – and a hunch even before that – Ace had had no doubt that Marco loved his ass, and, after that, Marco had proven that fact over and over. So, when Marco had started off with telling him that, Ace had assumed it was just drunk babbling because Marco had been ball deep inside of him. But when he had continued and switched from rough sex to lovemaking halfway through, Ace started to doubt that it was meaningless chatter. Weren’t drunk people supposed to be more honest? Marco had gone on and on, until Ace came, and he had said those words. Those three words that no one had ever said to Ace before.

“ _I love you_.”

Marco loved him. It hadn’t been a drunken exclamation of love either, Ace was sure of that. Why else wait until he had his orgasm? He hadn’t been supposed to hear it.

Remembering those words made something flutter in his stomach. It was weird to hear someone say it. He knew Luffy loved him, but his brother only declared his love to meat. Gramps loved him too, probably, though he had his own way of showing it. His friends loved him as well, but nobody had ever said it to him. Not like this.

The idea of someone loving him, everything about him, made him smile despite the pain in his head and ass. That would fade, anyway.

But suddenly, he realised something. It was one thing that Marco loved him, but did he love Marco?

He was crazy about him, sure. Marco was one of the most handsome men he had ever met, he was sexy, great in bed, funny, smart… So yeah, Ace liked him a lot, but how did he know if he _loved_ him?

He needed to think, and he also very much needed a shower. Deciding to combine the two, he pushed the blanket off him and sat up on the bed.

Just when he was about to rise, the arm around his waist gripped him firmer and tried to pull him back in bed.

“Not yet,” a sleepy voice said.

Ace’s heart was pounding when he was pulled back under the blanket and Marco snuggled up against him. He wasn’t ready to face Marco yet – figuratively speaking, as he was lying with his back against Marco’s chest – even though Marco probably wouldn’t remember saying it and if he did, he would probably assume Ace hadn’t heard him or had forgotten it himself.

“Morning,” he mumbled.

Marco hummed and pressed a kiss against the back of his neck.

“Hey, can I use your shower?”

Marco turned him so he could look him in the face. Ace forced himself to look him in the eyes, and Marco frowned. “Sure, but usually you use any excuse to stay in bed.”

“Usually, you would be up right now,” Ace flung back. “How are you feeling anyway? Headache?”

“Nah, I don’t get hung over.” Marco lay back down again.

“Lucky bastard,” Ace muttered and continued in a louder voice: “I just feel all sticky. You know what I’m covered in. Besides, I have to work this afternoon, so I would like to spend some more time with your family before that.”

Marco sighed and let go of him. “Alright then. It’s the door right across the hall. You should find some clean towels there too.”

“Thanks.” Ace got up from the bed and pulled on his boxers that were lying on the floor, when he realised something.”You only have one bathroom with sixteen persons?”

Marco smiled. “Nah, that’s just the closest. Though we did have to share.”

“I see.” Ace pressed a kiss on Marco’s forehead. “Now, just enjoy the space you have.”

“I’d prefer if you stayed,” Marco mumbled as he turned his back towards Ace.

Ace pretended he didn’t hear that and, picking up his shorts, he left the room in search for the bathroom. It was right where Marco had said it would be – not that he had doubted that, after all, Marco wasn’t Zoro – and, after locating a clean towel, he turned on the spray.

The water woke him up nicely and, after picking a random bottle of shampoo, he started to relax, and his mind drifted. So, he had already established he liked Marco. Obviously, or he wouldn’t be in this relationship.

 _Relationship_. Marco was his boyfriend. He never had a boyfriend before, only hook-ups with guys. Vivi had been his girlfriend, but the reason they broke up was because he preferred guys. Marco was a guy. An amazing one. He knew Marco wasn’t perfect and had his dark past, but who hadn’t? Okay, most people wouldn’t have killed someone or had to change their last name, but Marco had turned over a new leaf. It was hard to imagine not having Marco in his life anymore. Just like he couldn’t imagine his life without Luffy or his friends. Was this what it meant to love someone?

Yes, he loved Marco. The thought brought a big smile to his face, embarrassed by his own sappiness. He had never felt something like this before and he would gladly share it with Marco.

But there was one thing he hadn’t told Marco yet. It was horrible, but it had just slipped his mind because he had been too busy being happy – and almost getting killed, but that happened more often.

After he had shared this last piece of his past with Marco, he would tell Marco how he felt.

* * *

When he walked down the stairs, he was surprised to find his phone in the hallway. He must have placed it there at some point, but that had probably been a good thing, since he had fallen in the water with his pants on, and his phone wouldn’t be working anymore if it had been in the pocket. It also reminded him to call Luffy, to see if he got home okay last night.

It took a while before his brother picked up, but he was used to that as Luffy had the tendency to lose his phone.

“Ace!” a familiar voice shouted in his ear after several rings.

Fortunately, he was prepared for that as well and held his own phone away from his ear. “Yo, Lu. You got home okay last night?”

“I did! Makino said she would cook for me sometime soon and she’s considering the baby name I suggested.”

Despite already having a hunch, Ace asked chuckling: “Yeah? What’s that?”

“Meat!” Luffy grinned. “It’s perfect! It can be used for a boy or a girl, and who doesn’t love meat?”

Ace laughed at his brother’s excitement. “That’s… a lovely name, Lu.” He sincerely hoped Makino would never do that to her child, or anyone for that matter. “Hey, I have to work this afternoon, but do you want to hang out tonight? Watch a movie or something?” It had been a while since he did something with just his brother.

Luffy laughed. “Sure! I’ll get on the snacks.” With that, he hung up.

Ace smiled and put his phone in his pocket, before he entered the living room. Several of the brothers were already awake. Fossa, Rakuyo and Thatch were sitting at the table, the former reading the paper and the latter leaning on the table with his back turned to the door.

Izo just entered with a pot of coffee. “Morning, Ace,” he greeted, his face already covered in make-up and his hair pinned up.

“Morning,” he replied.

Fossa looked up from his paper and grunted a greeting as Rakuyo waved at him with a smile. Thatch was the only one who didn’t respond.

Ace walked up to him and poked his back, causing Thatch to flinch. “I said good morning.”

Refusing to look at him, Thatch remained staring at his cup. “I’m not talking to you until I’ve finished my coffee. And preferably a bottle of rum,” he added grumbling.

Rakuyo started to chuckle. “Don’t mind him. He’s just grumpy because you and Marco ‘occupied’ his room last night.”

“We stayed off your bed.” Ace smiled sheepishly.

Thatch emptied his coffee cup in one go and gave Ace a glare.

Ace took a seat, purposely next to Thatch, who, despite the early hour, already had his pompadour perfectly done, and chuckled as Thatch shied away from him. “So, everyone knows, huh.”

“We already had an idea where you went to when you disappeared from the party.” Izo placed a damping mug of coffee in front of him. “Marco gets clingy when he’s drunk, so it wasn’t hard to guess where that… affection would lead to.”

“Really? I would have taken him for a horny drunk.” Ace chuckled when Thatch almost choked on his coffee, his mug being refilled after Ace had gotten his cup.

“I’m sorry we made you sleep on the couch, Thatch,” Ace said sincerely.

“I didn’t sleep on the couch.”

“Oh?” Ace raised his eyebrow. “Where did you sleep then?”

“Izo’s bed.”

Confused, Ace looked from one to the other. “Then where did Izo sleep?”

“Izo’s bed.” Izo stirred his coffee. “What, you think I let myself be kicked out of bed because grandpa here has a bad back?” He snorted.

“Hey, you try sleeping on the couch!” Thatch snapped. “Besides,” he added with a grin, “Haruta was passed out on it.”

“Really? Do you know how often Marco came knocking on our doors at night because you ‘occupied’ the room? Or because of your awful snoring,” Rakuyo added chuckling.

Thatch huffed. “I was doing him a favour. He sleeps better with someone next to him, we all know that. He just needed an excuse.”

“And now he has his permanent bed warmer.” Rakuyo flashed Ace a grin, and Ace certainly did not flush a little. Though, he was a little disappointed it wasn’t just him that made Marco sleep better.

Thatch finished his second mug of coffee and rose. “I’ll just start on breakfast.”

Ace sipped from his coffee as Haruta, Kingdew and Jiru entered the living room. Izo poured more cups of coffee and dispatched them generously. It all seemed routine.

Footsteps approached behind Ace and the whooping of the brothers and Izo’s remark of “Morning, tiger”, made it very easy to guess who had entered.

Marco’s hair was still damp from the shower and he was trying very hard to suppress his smirk, not succeeding entirely. He ignored the comments, however, and pressed a kiss on Ace’s hair. “I never wished you good morning properly,” he whispered in Ace’s ear. “So, good morning.”

It was hard to suppress the shiver that threatened to run down his spine. “Morning,” he muttered.

Marco accepted the coffee handed to him, before he took Ace’s hand. “Can you come with me for a moment?”

“S-sure.” Wide-eyed, Ace rose. What would Marco want to say to him? Did he remember? Did he want to tell Ace that he didn’t mean what he said? Fuck, that would be awkward… Not to mention painful.

They took a seat on the couch in the living room, far from the dining room. Ace couldn’t help his leg from bouncing up and down.

“Are you okay?” Marco asked.

“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Marco sighed. “You seemed a bit strange this morning. Look, I may not be hung over, but I also don’t remember that much from what happened after our little drinking game. So if I said or did anything to upset you…”

Ace stared at him in surprise. Marco was worried about him? The man who told him that he loved him was worried he said something to upset him?

Before Marco could react, Ace was on top of him, kissing him like his life depended on it. Marco was caught off guard, but complied anyway. When Ace let go, he looked at him confused. “Is that a no?”

Ace smiled. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. You did everything just right.” He made sure to waggle his eyebrows to get his innuendo across – not that he thought Marco needed that.

Marco sighed in relief and pulled Ace into his lap.

“So, wait. You don’t remember us having sex either?” Ace inquired curiously.

“Hazily. And waking up naked was a hint as well.”

Ace played with Marco’s hair. “Izo called you affectionate when you’re drunk, but you looked pretty horny to me.” He chuckled when he saw a blush appear on Marco’s cheeks.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad…” Marco tried to protest.

“You wanted to fuck me on the stairs!”

Marco opened his mouth to retort, but didn’t seem able to come up with anything.

Ace snickered again and pulled him close. “It’s okay. Your brothers know you best, so that must mean I’m the only one who has that effect on you. I can live with that.” He kissed Marco’s lips passionately.

“I’m glad you came to the party yesterday,” Marco muttered. “And stayed the night,” he added sheepishly.

Ace chuckled and got off Marco. “Come on, I’m starving. Oh, don’t forget to feed your bird.”

The parrot had been stationed in Whitebeard’s room before the party started, to prevent any drunken accidents. In hindsight, Ace agreed that had been a wise decision.

They moved to the dining room again where the brothers were just setting the table, and Thatch came in with the largest dish of scrambled eggs Ace had ever seen.

When Thatch saw him drooling, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. The next one is on its way.”

Ace’s eyebrows rose. There was another one? His eyes sparkled and he sat down at the table. In the meantime, the rest and Whitebeard himself had joined them. There were some stares, gossiping and chuckles behind hands, but Ace noticed that as soon as Marco raised his eyebrow, everyone went quiet. He doubted he and Marco were the only ones who had a wild night anyway, since some of the wives – the ones without kids – had spent the night as well.

Breakfast was elaborate, with the eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad and other things, that even Luffy might have been satisfied at the end of it. It was clear that Thatch was used to cooking for large parties.

After breakfast, Ace was asked to stay to help clean up, but apologetically, he bowed and said he had to work. “Next time I’ll help,” he promised.

Marco walked him to the door, where Ace wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. “I have plans with Luffy tonight, but there is something I need to show you soon,” he said as he let go. “We will need a couple of hours, though.”

Marco studied his face, his eyebrows furrowed, but Ace made sure not to give anything away. “I have Wednesday afternoon off, will that do?”

Ace’s face split into a grin. “Yeah, that would be great. I’ll pick you up.” With a goodbye kiss and paying no heed to further questions, he pulled the door shut behind him.

* * *

Marco hadn’t gotten any more information out of Ace about what he wanted to show or where they were going in the past few days, so he had given up asking. Wednesday, Ace had parked his motorcycle on Marco’s driveway and handed him his spare helmet.

“I don’t assume you’re going to tell me now what this is about?” Marco asked, as he placed the helmet on his head and made sure it wouldn’t fall off easily.

“Let’s just say there is someone I still have to introduce you to.” Ace smiled sheepishly.

Marco frowned. He couldn’t remember Ace mentioning a name in the months they had been dating whom he hadn’t met already – unless they wanted Ace dead – but if Ace wanted to introduce him to them, they had to be important to him. He searched his brain, but no name came up.

“How long is the drive?” he asked instead.

“About an hour. Hold on tight!”

Marco had never ridden on Ace’s motorcycle before, though that didn’t mean he had never been on one. He had, several times, but he wasn’t a fan of riding on the back. He liked to be more in control and have a better visual. But he trusted Ace and as he had no idea where they were going, he sat on the back and wrapped his arms around Ace.

Ace drove fast and some may call it risky, but Marco had been in much worse situations, and Ace knew what he was doing. With his medication working, Marco had no reason to fear him falling asleep behind the wheel, so they should be fine.

What did start a restless feeling in his stomach was the fact that they were on the motorway in the direction of Foosha, the town he had been working as a firefighter before his accident. Of course, he told himself, it was very well possible that Ace wanted him to meet someone who was living there, as Ace used to live there himself. Or he had at least been there that night…

He tried not to panic, maybe Ace just wanted to introduce him to an old friend or a babysitter or something. He rested his head against Ace’s back and relaxed a little. Ace was here, they were fine.

The peace of mind didn’t last long as Ace pulled up at the Grey Terminal Cemetery. Marco tried to steady his breath as he pulled the helmet off his head. This didn’t necessarily mean they were here for _him_. Maybe Ace was going to introduce him to his mother. Yes, that sounded plausible. Ace had made his feelings about his father clear, but he didn’t seem to have anything against his mother. What was her name again? Rouge? Ace said he had taken on her last name instead of his father’s.

“Ace,” he asked carefully, “why are we at a cemetery?”

“Like I said, there is someone I want you to meet.”

“You didn’t say… they wouldn’t be able to greet me back,” he said.

Ace sighed. “I know this might look strange, but… He’s really important to me. So please humour me?”

‘He’. Fuck. As Ace dragged him by his hand, Marco prayed that it wasn’t who he thought it was. Maybe it was his father after all! He knew he was kidding himself with that one, though. Another old friend? Former lover? Anyone?

But the path they followed was the same one he had walked so many times before, his guilty conscience weighing him down like every other time. He knew this day would come, but he had hoped he had a little more time. A little more time to lie to himself and pretend he wasn’t a monster who deceived his boyfriend. A little longer just him and Ace being a normal couple.

He tried to steady his breath and swallow the lump in his throat away. They had stopped in front of a tombstone, a simple, weatherworn grey stone with only a name carved into it.

Sabo Robelle.

“He was my best friend,” Ace said in a soft voice as his hand searched for Marco’s. “He died when I was twelve. It was horrible.”

Marco could only stare at the stone he had seen many times before. His mouth felt dry and he licked his lips in a vain attempt to do something about it.

“Me and Lu go here every once in a while,” Ace continued, oblivious to Marco’s guilt. “We never bring flowers, only food. But sometimes when we get here, there are flowers on the grave. I don’t know who they are from, most certainly not his parents.” He made a face, but then smiled again. “It’s nice to know that someone still cares, even though I don’t know who. It has been ten years, after all.”

“Yeah,” Marco managed to bring out. His voice sounded hoarse.

Ace turned away from the grave and looked at Marco. “Are you alright? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine.” He made a weak attempt to swat Ace’s hand away as it was placed on his forehead.

Ace frowned. “You’re burning up! Come on, let’s sit down.”

“I’m fine,” he muttered, but let himself be dragged to the nearest bench. Ace pulled him down next to him and felt his forehead again.

“Fuck, Marco, you’re hot and sweaty, and not in a good way,” he couldn’t help but add with a smirk. Marco gave a weak smile back before burying his face in his hands. Ace rubbed soothing circles on his back. “This came up very suddenly. Have you been overworking yourself?”

Marco didn’t respond, but tried to calm himself with deep steady breaths. This had nothing to do with work, and he knew perfectly well what was wrong with him. The guilt was eating him up. But how could he tell Ace?

“Come on.”

Confusedly, he looked up and blinked a few times when the world wouldn’t stop moving.

“I’m taking you home,” Ace said determined. He held out his hand.

“But what about…” he tried to protest when a wave of nausea came over him.

“Sabo will be here in a few days as well. Right now, you need to be in bed.”

Marco let himself be pulled up again and leaned heavily on Ace as they walked back to his motorcycle. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“Don’t be silly. You’re sick. Sabo’ll understand.”

The reassuring smile on Ace’s face made him want to cry.

“Do you think you’ll be okay on the back of my motorcycle or do we need to take the bus?” Ace inquired worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” he croaked out.

Ace nodded and put on his helmet, Marco following his example. As he took a seat on the back, Ace pulled Marco’s arms around his waist. “You hold me this tightly. If you’re slacking, I’m pulling over.”

Marco nodded, not even realising Ace couldn’t see him. He didn’t remember much about the ride back, except that they stopped at a gas station once and that Ace bought him a bottle of water. He did register that Ace half carried him up the stairs and that he was put in bed.

He must have fallen sleep, because he woke up from an annoying beeping sound that wasn’t his alarm. He heard some curses coming from downstairs and some rummaging about before the beeping stopped. A smile appeared on his face when he recognised the voice. Ace was still here. He hadn’t left him.

A knocking on his door made him sit upright. Ace came in with a tray on which two bowls were balanced. “Hey, I made some soup if you’re up for it.”

“So it _was_ the fire alarm.” Marco couldn’t help but grin a little.

“I don’t understand, I got it from a can and heated it up in the microwave. Without the can.” Ace put the tray on the bed and scratched the back of his head. “But you look much better.” He sat down next to Marco and handed him a bowl.

It was touching how concerned Ace was about him. He had heated up chicken broth, nothing he couldn’t stomach. And he had brought Marco home despite wanting him to meet his old friend they had driven an hour to get to.

Marco lifted up the spoon and blew on the broth until he deemed it safe to eat. It struck him that Ace hadn’t mentioned how Sabo died. But he had just been a kid, maybe he didn’t realise his friend’s death was all Marco’s fault. Or he just didn’t want to talk about it.

He had always known his relationship with Ace wouldn’t last, despite him wishing it to be so. He would have to break up with him sooner or later, the sooner the better because he couldn’t have Ace grow too attached to him. He had known that from the start and still he had let it get this far. Because he didn’t want to lose Ace. If that meant lying and pretending everything was fine…

But then there was the threat of Akainu. After what Shanks had told him at the party, that that bastard was just playing with Ace, it had made him mad, but it also meant that Ace wasn’t in immediate danger. He had taken care of himself for a long time and he could get on perfectly well without Marco in his life. And yet, Marco kept telling himself he stayed to protect him. He couldn’t ignore his instincts. Once he knew someone he cared about was in danger, he would do anything to guard them.

He was so lost in thoughts he hadn’t seen Ace come closer and only looked up when Ace pressed his forehead against his.

“You gave me quite a scare, you know,” he said softly. “But I’m glad you’re okay.”

Marco brushed a dark strand behind Ace’s ear. “I’m sorry I ruined your day.”

“Stop apologising, okay? Just get better and we can go again.”

“Yeah…” Marco stared into space when Ace took the bowl from him and pushed him down on the mattress. He closed his eyes as Ace curled up against him and pulled the covers over them both. It was nice, being with Ace always was. Now if there was only a way to keep it this way.

* * *

He woke up from of gentle fingers stroking some hair out of his face and he hadn’t even opened his eyes when lips covered his own. Smiling into the kiss, Ace wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck to keep him close. “That’s a nice way to wake up,” he said hoarsely when Marco let go of him to breathe.

Marco didn’t answer, but pressed his nose against Ace’s temple for a moment.

“You feel better?” Ace asked softly.

Instead of a response, his lips were captured again, and Marco crawled on top of him. He would have laughed at the eagerness if there wasn’t currently a tongue in his mouth. Instead, he moaned.

Marco’s hands roamed his body, touching all the sensitive spots he had found a long time ago. Ace gasped, but did nothing to stop him. Eager hands grabbed his ass, before fingers hooked around the waistband of his boxers and started to ease them down.

“O-oi, shouldn’t you take it easy?” Ace started to protest, though his body had no objections at all.

Marco didn’t say anything, just looked at him, his brilliant blue eyes sparkling. Ace decided to take that as a no and smashed their lips together. Marco moved, starting to kiss along his jaw down to his neck and chest. All Ace could do was writhe beneath him and make encouraging sounds. He wasn’t sure where this all came from, but who was he to object?

Marco dipped his tongue into Ace’s bellybutton, and Ace was sure the neighbours could hear his moan. Marco gave him one last look, holding so much promise, before his head disappeared under the blanket.

Ace tried to get his breathing under control, but he knew it was a lost battle when Marco’s lips wrapped around him. It wasn’t fair, anyway, Marco was too good at this. He tried to keep his hips from snapping up, but not that hard since Marco already had them in a death grip.

Marco’s tongue trailed along the shaft and he took the tip in his mouth, sucking gently. Ace’s fingers clawed at the mattress to try and gain some control, but he had lost as soon as Marco ducked under the covers. When Marco’s fingers started playing with his sack, Ace dug his heels down, panting heavily. The world around him blurred when he came, Marco’s name on his lips.

Slowly coming down from his high, he felt Marco’s weight shift beside him, and he pulled him close for a kiss.

“I’m not sure what I did to deserve that, but I sure as hell am going to do it again,” Ace chuckled against Marco’s skin. Then the smile fell from his face and he bit his lip as his eyes flicked up, looking straight into Marco’s.

“Are you okay?” Marco asked, worry evident in his voice as he played with the sweaty black strands.

The smile reappeared on his face. “Yeah, I am. Actually, I’ve been okay for a while now.” He leaned in and kissed Marco intensely. Marco seemed a little surprised, but kissed him back nonetheless.

When they let go, Ace took a deep breath and said: “I love you, Marco.”

He wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he had expected. Maybe Marco smiling and saying it back. Or pulling him into a kiss. Whatever it had been, it wasn’t this.

Marco froze, his eyes wider than Ace had ever seen. “No. Nonono,” he muttered.

Ace looked at him confused. “No?”

Marco pushed him off and got off the bed. “You can’t fall in love with me!”

“What? It’s a little late for that,” Ace scoffed. But he felt like someone had dropped a stone on his stomach. “Marco…”

Marco made his way to the door, looking pale, still muttering “no” under his breath.

“Marco!” Ace got up to follow him, but Marco had the advantage of being dressed. Ace wrapped the sheets around his waist, but by the time he had gotten to the door of the bedroom, he heard the front door slam shut.

Defeated, he let himself fall on the bed. What had just happened? He thought Marco wanted this. Hell, Marco had said he loved Ace first! But he had been drunk… Did this mean Marco didn’t love him?

He pulled up his boxers, determined to wait until Marco came back. He deserved some answers, dammit.

He killed some time by watching TV and almost jumped when the doorbell rang. Maybe Marco had forgotten his key! In record time, he made it to the door, but his face fell when he saw who was actually there.

“Oh, it’s just you.”

“ _Just_ me?” Thatch snorted. “What’s with you? Is Marco here?”

Ace’s shoulders slumped. “No, he isn’t.”

“Any idea when he’s back?”

“No.” Ace stared at his toes.

“What’s the matter?” Thatch frowned and stepped inside when Ace made his way back to the living room and let himself fall on the couch. “Did you two have a fight?”

“I…’m not sure,” Ace admitted.

This time Thatch raised his eyebrows. “How can you not know that?”

“Because I don’t know what the hell I did wrong!” Ace got up and started to pace up and down.

“Why aren’t you wearing pants?”

“Just be glad I’m wearing _something_ ,” he snapped. It came out more aggressively than he had meant. Frustrated, he went with his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little on edge.”

“I get it. So tell me what happened.” Thatch leaned back on the couch.

Ace hesitated. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause it’s embarrassing!”

“Does it have to do anything with why you don’t wear pants?”

Ace looked down. “No, not necessarily.”

“Then tell me.” Thatch placed his ankle on his other knee, taking a demonstrative position. He wasn’t going anywhere.

So, Ace sighed and sat down next to him. Taking a deep breath, he started: “On his birthday party, you remember Marco was pretty drunk?”

“That’s not something I easily forget. Besides, it was last weekend.”

Ace nodded nervously. “Well, he said… he told me he loved me. He doesn’t remember he did,” he hastily continued when he saw Thatch’s thrilled face, “but it did get me thinking about what I felt. And, well, today I told him I loved him too.”

Thatch clasped his hands together. “That’s great! So, what did he say?”

“No.”

Thatch looked at him confused. “Beg your pardon?”

Ace brusquely rose, almost pulling his hear out in frustration. “He said no. That I shouldn’t fall in love with him and then he stormed out! Without an explanation or anything.”

Thatch’s face fell. “That doesn’t sound like Marco,” he muttered.

“Oh, really now?” Ace snapped. “Weren’t you the one that told me that he wanted this? That he wanted to be in a relationship? Well, this is what happened when I offered it to him on a silver platter!” He flopped back down on the couch and buried his face in his hands.

Thatch stayed quiet for a moment, but then slapped on his knees. “That’s it! He probably has cold feet.”

Ace looked up. “You think so?”

“Absolutely! Marco’s been alone for a long time and the things you're offering him are just a little too much to take in at once. He’ll come back soon, he always goes for a walk to cool off. When he’s back, you two have a nice long talk, and everything will be okay.”

Ace perked up. That sounded like a plausible explanation. “You’re right!”

“Of course I am. Now, go put on some pants.”

Ace did as he was asked, visibly cheered up. When he came downstairs again, he and Thatch chatted for a while, until they heard the key turning in the lock. Ace looked at Thatch wide-eyed, but he gave a reassuring wink.

“Ace, you’re still here.” Marco sounded surprised. “Thatch, what are you doing here?”

“I have some matters to discuss, but that can wait. It seems like you kids need to talk first. I’ll be at Izo’s if you need me.” With a small wave, Thatch left.

“You told him?” Marco asked.

“There wasn’t much to tell, considering you ran off without an explanation,” Ace snarled. “So this better be good.” He crossed his arms before his chest and looked at Marco expectantly.

Marco evaded eye contact and sank in a chair, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Ace, I’m sorry…”

His face softening a bit, Ace rose and kneeled down next to Marco. “It’s okay. Thatch explained it to me.” When Marco looked up wide-eyed, he continued: “I’m sorry if I jumped the gun. I assumed you wanted this, because, well, that’s what you said. And besides, you said it first–”

“What? When?” Marco demanded.

“At your birthday party, when you were fucking me.” He was getting annoyed again and brusquely rose. “But I guess that was just the alcohol talking then.”

A hand grasped his wrist and forced him to stop. “It wasn’t…” When Ace turned around, his wrist slipped loose, and Marco buried his face in his hands. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry, Ace, I’m so sorry!”

Ace ripped away Marco’s hands, the feeling of dread returning twice as fast this time. “What the hell are you talking about?” he roared.

“I’m sorry,” Marco whispered again. “I should never have let it come this far… I’m so sorry.” His eyes finally flicked up to Ace. “It’s over.”


	26. Chapter 26

Ace wasn’t sure how long he was standing there, gaping at Marco. “You’re… breaking up with me?” he finally managed to bring out. The whole situation, it all felt surreal. Marco had told him he loved him when he was drunk, but just now when Ace confronted him with it, he hadn’t denied it. So there had to be some sort of mistake. Marco had to have fear of commitment or something, that had to be it.

Marco had evaded eye contact again, his hands in his hair as he seemed to stop himself from pulling it out. “I’m sorry…”

“Just stop it, okay?” Ace knelt down again. “I don’t know what suddenly got into you, but you love me, right? That’s all that matters.”

“I do,” Marco whispered, and he didn’t stop Ace when he kissed him.

Ace couldn’t help but feel relieved. He still didn’t know what had gotten into Marco all of the sudden, but it seemed that he could kiss it all better.

Marco responded eagerly to his kiss, until he suddenly pushed Ace off him. “No!” He jumped up and started to pace up and down. “I can’t…”

Ace felt himself getting angry again. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“I told you, it’s over!” Marco leaned with one hand on the table and used the other to rub his temples. “Please, just go.”

“So you’re actually serious?” Ace had trouble keeping his breathing under control. “You’re breaking up with me?”

“Please… just go.” Marco’s voice was barely above a whisper. He sounded so tired.

Ace, however, was in no mood to feel sorry for him. Grabbing Marco by the shoulder, he spun him around. “Not until you give me a fucking reason!”

Marco opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again and shook his head. “I’m sorry…”

“Stop saying that! If you really were, we wouldn’t be in this situation! We’ve been dating for months, but you decide to dump me right after I tell you I love you?!” Ace’s voice broke.

“I’m s– I shouldn’t have let it come this far,” Marco interrupted himself.

“Does that mean you knew you were going to break up with me the entire time?” Ace sounded dangerously calm.

Marco didn’t respond, merely looked at the ground.

“What the hell kind of psychopath are you?! You get off from ripping people’s hearts out? How can you do this to me, after you were the one who said he wanted a serious relationship?” Ace bit his lip to prevent tears from spilling. Like hell he would cry in front of Marco. Soon, he tasted blood.

“I never meant to hurt you.” A bit hesitant, Marco reached out his hand and touched Ace’s face. “I’m so sorry.”

For a moment, Ace closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, pretending all was normal. But as soon as he opened his eyes again, he knew it wasn’t. Marco’s eyes were sad, remorseful. This was really happening.

Angry, he batted Marco’s hand away. “I told you to stop saying that! You owe me an explanation, you fucking bastard!”

“I can’t give you one! Please don’t take it personal. It’s not you–”

Ace scoffed. “You seriously gonna give me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech? You’re pathetic!”

“I’m sorry… I can’t stand the idea of you hating me…”

“Well, too bad! ‘Cause I hate you already!”

He knew Marco could have stopped his fist, but apparently, Marco felt so guilty he let Ace punch him in the face with his full strength. Ace heard a crunching sound and he knew he might have broken Marco’s nose, but he didn’t stay to find out. He needed to leave this place.

The world was spinning around him when he finally came to a stop. He had run the entire time from Marco’s house to wherever the hell he was now, never stopping to look where he was going. He didn’t care about being lost, though. Less chance he would run into someone he knew, because he didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. Marco had just ripped his heart out, knowing fully well how Ace felt about him, and even worse, he had known this whole time that things were going to end this way.

Why Marco had decided this was the appropriate time, Ace couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Did he feel like Ace was getting too close? But they were dating for months! And their relationship had been more intense than those of ordinary people, with all the attempts on their lives and all. He had just met Marco’s father, for crying out loud! And then Marco had the nerve to not even give him as much as a reason?!

No matter how long he thought about it, Ace didn’t understand. Everything had been going so well. A few hours ago, he had been in bed with the man he loved, and his life had seemed perfect. Now, it felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest and displayed in front of him. Was there any way he could have seen this coming?

He shook his head violently. No. This was not on him. This was all the fault of that bastard who had the nerve to call him a kid, while Marco was the one not ready to be in a relationship.

He didn’t need this right now. He just wanted to forget about everything, even if it was for a little while.

A sign above a door that said ‘Shakky’s Rip-off Bar’ drew his attention. Alcohol. That was just what he needed. He had never been to this side of town before, much less in this particular bar, but booze was booze. Trying the door handle, he found the door to be open and stepped inside.

The bar was dark and some people were sitting in the corner, talking softly to each other. It seemed a bit shady and maybe a place where the Mafia would hang out or something, but what the hell, they accepted money from everyone, right? Ace took a seat at the bar and waited until he had the attention from the bartender, a woman with black hair in a bob cut smoking a cigarette.

“You must be new here,” she said.

Ace just shrugged.

Sensing this one wasn’t in the mood to talk, the bartender continued: “What can I getcha?”

“The strongest and cheapest stuff you got. I need to get drunk, and fast,” he answered monotonously.

“Ah, the broken heart special.” The woman poured some kind of whiskey or rum in a glass and placed it in front of Ace on the bar.

Ace tossed his drink back and tapped on the bar to indicate he wanted another. The bartender complied before tending to another customer.

Ace wasn’t sure how many drinks he had when his vision went a little blurry, but he still had the presence of mind to realise that someone came to sit next to him, so he wasn’t nearly drunk enough.

“Looks like you have had a bad day.”

Ace turned around – almost slipping off his bar stool – to tell the guy to mind his own business. He was met with a friendly, elderly face of a man, with long silver hair and a matching goatee. A small sober part of his mind tried to tell him he had seen this man before, but he couldn’t place him. The words had died on his tongue a while ago and he just sighed.

“Shakky, another round for me and my friend here.”

The woman behind the bar rolled her eyes and took a drag from her cigarette. “If you’re ordering, it’s going on your tab, Rayleigh.”

The man beside Ace groaned. “You stepped into the wrong bar to get drunk, son. It’s not called ‘Shakky’s Rip-off Bar’ for nothing.”

Ace shrugged. “I don’t care.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” the man asked.

“Not really.”

A few drinks later, he found himself pouring his heart out. “And then the bastard dumps me, without giving me so much as a reason! But yeah, I’m the kid here.” He took another swig of his drink, wobbling on his stool. Pointing at the man who had been introduced as Rayleigh, he cocked his head a little. “Have we met before?”

Rayleigh plucked at his goatee. “Have we, indeed.”

Ace didn’t get it, but he stopped caring when another glass filled with some kind of alcoholic beverage was placed in front of him.

He had no idea what time it was when Rayleigh asked him: “Do you need a ride home, son?”

“No, I don’t wanna go home. Luffy can’t see me like this,” Ace answered, not realising that Rayleigh probably didn’t know who Luffy was in the first place. A bit wobbly, he climbed off his bar stool. “I’ll walk. I can walk off the alcohol. I’ll be fine.” He almost bumped into another customer. “’xuse me, kind sir.”

The door was a little farther away than he expected it to be, causing him to almost fall over, but he managed to stay on his feet. Turning back to the bar, he waved at Rayleigh and Shakky, as the bartender was apparently the owner of the bar, and called: “I’m okay.”

Outside, it was dark. He couldn’t remember if it had been when he went inside, but it didn’t matter anyway. He needed to sober up and get home. There he could sleep the whole thing off and start fresh tomorrow.

Yet, he had no idea where he was. Was this how Zoro always felt? Ace finally understood him. The streets _were_ moving!

After having walked a few blocks, he realised he had to pee. He should probably have gone at the bar, but it was too far to walk back and he didn’t know how long it would take him to get home. Checking if no one was looking, he zipped open his pants and sighed in relief when he didn’t have to hold it in any longer. While peeing, he studied the car he was urinating against. It did look kind of familiar…

“What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing?!”

Ace zipped up and turned around smiling. “Smokey!”

Smoker was standing behind him, fuming, it seemed, with his arms crossed before his chest. “Well?” He tapped his foot impatiently on the ground.

“I was peeing,” Ace shrugged. “But it’s so good to see you again, Smokey~”

Smoker studied Ace’s face. “Are you drunk?”

“No, of course not. You know me, Smokey~”

“That’s why I asked,” Smoker grouched. “What are you doing here anyway? You live around here?”

Smoker had never been to his house, as when they still slept together Smoker wanted to keep things private, and Luffy was not one for keeping secrets. Besides, Ace rarely had sex at home because his brother lived there as well, and he wasn’t ready to answer the questions Luffy might have.

“I’m not sure where I am.”

Smoker sighed and rubbed his temples. “I should arrest you for damaging police property, you know. Not to mention public intoxication and urinating in public.”

“I was just peeing! You don’t arrest every bird who craps on your car, right?”

“I wish I could,” Smoker said through clenched teeth.

“But I don’t mind being arrested~” Ace took a step closer and let his finger run over Smoker’s chest. “You’d have to cuff me though, officer~”

“It’s captain, damn brat. And aren’t you dating that arson inspector?”

Ace looked at the ground and bit his lip. Fuck, he was just starting to forget about that bastard.

Smoker seemed to understand and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Alright. How about I take you home?”

“I don’t wanna go home! Luffy… He can’t see me like this. Can’t we just go to your place? Please?” Ace grabbed Smoker’s wrist. “I just wanna fuck.”

“No.”

“Whaddya mean, no?” Ace asked a little insultedly. “You never had a problem with my ass before.” To emphasise, he pressed said ass against Smoker and wiggled a bit. “Come on~ I know you want to~”

“I said no, damn brat.” Smoker pushed him away. “I can’t use cuffs as a threat since you’ll only like that, but I will clog you if you don’t cut it out.”

“Why not?” Ace whined.

Smoker scratched the back of his head. “I’m… sorta seeing someone.”

“Who?” Ace demanded.

“That’s none of your damn business. Now, get in the car so I can take you to the station.”

“Fine.” Pouting, Ace walked around the car to get to the passenger side, when a thought entered his head. “You’re not thinking about fucking me in a cell, are you, _captain_?” he all but purred.

Smoker lit his second cigar as he strapped on his seatbelt. “No, but I will let you sleep in one if you don’t cut it out. Put on your seatbelt.”

Ace did a few half-hearted attempts to click the device in, but his brain was too drunk to succeed. “It’s broken.”

“No, it’s not.” Sighing, Smoker leaned over him to fasten his seatbelt for him.

Ace groaned and stamped his feet frustrated. “You sure we can’t fuck?”

Smoker just snorted and started the car. They must have been close to the police station, because when Ace opened his eyes again, they were parked, and Smoker had opened the passenger door for him. “Come on, brat.”

Ace did as he was told, staggering once he was on his feet – maybe a little on purpose – and Smoker had to catch him. Smoker sighed and dragged him to the door, but before they went in, Ace suddenly placed his heels firmly on the ground, and Smoker had to stop.

“Wait. Gramps isn’t here, is he?” Ace asked worriedly.

“No, the chief doesn’t work at this godforsaken hour. Now, get inside, it’s freezing out here.”

The nice October weather they had had on Marco’s birthday had vanished, and now it was cold and bleak. _How appropriate_ , Ace thought snorting.

Smoker led them to his desk. The police station was rather quiet, only the poor souls who had the night shift and some workaholics present. Ace wondered which group Smoker belonged to.

“Give me your phone.”

Obediently, he did as he was told. Those tiny buttons were too small, anyway. He needed a new phone, one with bigger buttons. Or with voice recognition.

“Who can I call?” Smoker asked, as he took a seat behind his desk. “Not your brother or grandfather, apparently, and I assume that blond neither?”

Ace huffed. “Throw that number out altogether. And remove the pictures he’s in.”

“Do it yourself,” Smoker grouched. He seemed to have found a number that pleased him, because he began to dial it on the landline.

“I’d rather just go to your place,” Ace muttered, but shut up when Smoker glared at him. Sighing, he placed his forehead on the desk in front of him and tried to focus on Smoker’s side of the conversation, but he kept drifting off.

“Yes, please come pick him up, he’s driving me nuts,” Smoker grouched. “Thank you. Sorry to bother you at this hour.” With that, he hung up. “Well, your ride is on the way,” he said to Ace.

Ace lifted his head. “Who’dya call?” he asked a bit slurred.

“A friend of yours. Zoro, I believe. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Ha, if it’s Zoro, it can take a few hours!” Ace clutched his stomach as he couldn’t stop laughing.

Smoker just sighed, agitated, and demonstratively picked up a file and started reading it.

Finally, Ace calmed down and sighed, placing his head on the desk again. This day officially sucked.

* * *

The phone rang multiple times. He had tried ignoring it the first time, but the caller was persistent. Sighing, Marco picked up the device. Thatch was trying to reach him. _That’s right_ , he thought, _Thatch said he would wait at Izo’s place_.

His finger hovered over the ignore button, but that would only mean Thatch would come over to check up on him. He really didn’t want to see anyone right now. Not that he wanted to talk to anyone either, but it was the lesser of two evils. So finally, he picked up.

“Damn Marco, you had me worried there,” Thatch’s voice sounded through the phone. “You guys okay? You talked?”

“Y-yeah,” Marco said. It wasn’t a lie, they did talk. They just didn’t reach the conclusion Thatch thought, or hoped, they would reach.

His brother sighed in relief. “Good. So the fight is over?”

He stayed silent for a moment. “There never was a fight.” With that, he hung up.

* * *

He was woken by someone gently shaking his shoulder. Sleepily, he opened his eyes, trying to remember where he was. The sounds of phones ringing and chatter told him he wasn’t at home and, slowly, it dawned upon him that he was at the police station. The person how woke him turned out to be Zoro, who looked down on him worriedly.

“Zorri!” he called out.

Zoro snorted annoyedly. “How drunk are you?”

“Annoyingly so,” Smoker answered without looking up from his file.

“You’ve always found me annoying, but it never stopped you from fucking me before~” Ace teased as Zoro hauled him up. Then a brilliant idea popped into his head. “Wait a minute, I’ve slept with you both already! How about we make it a party?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“I already told you no, brat.”

“Sanji is waiting for me at home,” Zoro bit.

“Does that mean if he wasn’t, you would be into it?” Ace asked triumphantly. “But he can join too, I don’t mind. And maybe he can learn a thing or two. Right, Zoro?” He poked Zoro’s ribs.

Zoro rolled his eyes. “Come on. I’m taking you to our place since captain Smoker said you didn’t want to go home, right?”

Ace shook his head and let himself be dragged along. “Bye, Smokey!” he called. “Call me if you change your mind!”

Ace leaned heavily on his friend as Zoro brought him to his car, both because he was tired and because he was still drunk. Zoro put him in the passenger seat and walked around the car to get into the driver seat. As they pulled up, Zoro turned on his left ignition light.

“Er, if we want to go to your place, we have to go right.”

Zoro muttered something like, “What do you know? You’re drunk”, but still turned on the other ignition. Ace giggled.

During the ride, Ace drifted off, but was woken every time the navigation system said the directions, and Ace was sure it sounded more desperate every time Zoro took a wrong turn. Eventually, though, they reached the house of Zoro and Sanji. They had moved in together after Zoro’s house burned down and it seemed to go well.

When they entered the living room, Ace saw Sanji sitting on the couch, reading a book. Noticing them, Sanji put his book away and looked over the rim of his reading glasses at Ace.

“Fuck, I forgot how sexy you look with those glasses,” Ace groaned.

“I forgot how much you stink when you’re drunk. What the hell, Ace,” Sanji grumbled.

Ace pouted a little, but then bowed as his manners told him. “Thank you for picking me up and letting me stay.”

Sanji sighed. “That’s okay. Come on, sit down.”

Ace did as he was told, sitting closer to Sanji than was strictly necessary. “It’s so unfair you get to keep him all to yourself, Zoro,” he groaned.

Sanji rolled his eyes and took off his glasses.

“Be honest,” Ace moved closer and whispered, “ever thought about having a threesome?”

“You’re drunk.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fuck. Come on~”

Sanji sighed again. “Alright.”

Ace perked up. “Are you serious?”

“First, you eat, though.”

“Okay.” Like hell he was going to say no to a home cooked meal made by Sanji. Food and sex, a threesome no less, maybe this evening wasn’t so bad.

Zoro followed Sanji into the kitchen, whispering: “What the hell, Curly-brow? Shouldn’t we discuss this?”

He didn’t hear Sanji’s response as they were already in the kitchen, but no doubt Sanji was busy convincing Zoro. Contently, he kicked off his boots and lied down on the couch, his hands behind his head.

When Sanji returned, Ace almost ripped the plate out of his hands. The mention of food made him realise he hadn’t eaten anything since that bowl of soup who knew how many hours ago, and his stomach growled. “Thanks for the food,” he said, bowing his head, though his words lost a little of their impact because he had his mouth stuffed full.

Sanji sat down next to him on the couch, Zoro taking a seat across them in a chair. “You want to talk about what happened?” the former asked Ace.

“Not really. Is that thyme I taste?” he asked between bites.

Sanji sighed. “Yes.”

“’s Really good!”

The food was gone in no time, and Ace sighed contently as he placed the plate on the coffee table – or so he thought, as it fell to the floor. Zoro rubbed his temples as Ace giggled.

“Sorry. Now, let’s get down to business.” He couldn’t suppress a yawn.

“Why don’t you take a nap first?” Sanji proposed. “To gain more energy.”

“Yeah, a nap sounds nice.” Ace streched out his legs when Sanji rose and snuggled up when a blanket was placed over him. “Then I’m ready for action,” he muttered as his eyes fell shut.

* * *

Waking up, he felt like a steamroller had run him over – and twice over his head. He groaned and sat up, a little surprised about his surroundings. Slowly, the previous night came back to him, albeit with holes, but the breakup was replayed vividly before his mind’s eye, over and over again.

Groaning, he sat up as he heard someone moving about in the kitchen.

Sanji appeared, carrying a tray loaded with food. “Good morning,” he said.

“Morning,” Ace muttered a little embarrassed. Despite the delicious smells that were drifting his way, he wasn’t hungry. He did, however, accept the glass of orange juice gratefully.

Sanji had taken a seat next to him on the couch. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I don’t really feel like it.”

Sanji nodded, worry evident on his face. “Alright, just try in a bit.”

Ace hummed, and they sat in silence, before Ace said: “I’m sorry for intruding on you last night. And making you worry about me.”

“That’s okay, Ace. You’re our friend.”

Ace nodded as he stared at his plate. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t felt like eating. And this was Sanji’s food, for crying out loud! Still, he couldn’t bring himself to take a bite.

“Marco… broke up with me,” he said slowly. He swallowed hard. As much as he didn’t want to talk about it, he owed Sanji an explanation.

“So I’ve heard.” Sanji’s voice sounded soft. “How are you?”

“It’s okay, I’m alright,” he shrugged.

“Ace… You’re crying.”

“What?” Confusedly, he wiped with his hand over his cheeks and stared at the wet substance. He _was_ crying. “Fuck!” He clutched to Sanji, his shoulders shaking with every sob. He hated to look so vulnerable in front of his friend, but he couldn’t hold back anymore.

Slender hands rubbed soothing circles on his back until his calmed down. Gasping for air, he sat up again, wiping his cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I just… I really l–” He fervently shook his head and hid his face in his hands. After having taken a few deep breaths, he felt like he had himself under control again.

Sanji still looked at him, his unique eyebrow pulled in a worried frown.

Not wanting his friend to feel bad on his account, Ace forced a smile on his face. “Really, I’m fine. Come on, you know me.”

Though, he realised, in the time he had known Sanji, he had been in prison, and the rest of the time he had been dating Marco. Still, Sanji must have heard stories about how he bounced from one guy to the next, right? This was just like that. Only… Only this time, it might take a little longer before he was ready to date again.

“So where’s Zoro?” he asked to change the subject as he tried a tiny bite from the food in front of him – it smelled so good – and decided that he may be hungry after all.

Sanji smiled encouragingly. “He is picking up Luffy.”

Ace stopped his fork on its way to his mouth. “Oh. Was he worried?”

“Not until we called him. He assumed…” Sanji trailed off.

Sighing, Ace placed his fork on the plate again. “He assumed I was with Marco.”

“Yeah…”

An awkward silence fell. Sanji moved and leaned with his elbows on his knees, his head resting on his palms. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but can I ask why you broke up? Things seemed to go really well, so…”

“That’s what I thought too.” Ace sighed again. “I don’t know, it came out of the blue. He never gave me a reason.”

Sanji frowned, but didn’t press. They heard the key turn in the lock and a pair of footsteps in the hallway. Luffy was the first to appear in the doorway. Ace hastily wiped any possible traces of tears off his face and rose when he saw his brother.

“Ace! Are you okay?” he asked, an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

Zoro appeared behind him. “Morning,” he grumbled.

“Morning,” he muttered back. “Yeah, Lu, I’m fine.”

“Do I need to punch him?” his brother asked, face entirely serious.

Ace smiled and ruffled his hair. “I already did. I would just like to go home now.”

Luffy nodded and pressed his hat firmer on his head.

Ace followed his brother to the door, turning around in the doorframe of the living room and bowed. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

* * *

The piercing sound of someone holding the button from the doorbell woke him. Groaning, he reached for his alarm clock. It was ten o’clock, he had slept for a solid two hours. Sighing, Marco got up from his bed and walked downstairs. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes still lingered in the air. He peered around the corner of the living room. Several empty bottles were lying on the ground and an ashtray he hadn’t used in years was filled with cigarette butts.

The sound of the doorbell continued, and, realising his guest wouldn’t go away, Marco peeked through the window next to the door. As he had expected, an outraged looking Izo had pressed his perfectly manicured finger against the doorbell and didn’t seem he was about to let go. Marco was just happy his brother hadn’t decided to use his own key and just barge in. Izo was an obstacle he couldn’t avoid, not matter what, so sighing, he unlocked the door.

“What the hell have you done?!” Izo spat at him as soon as he had opened the door a little. Izo pushed the door open and stomped by him, not giving him the chance to change his mind. Thatch, who had been standing behind his brother, hurried along after him, trying to calm him down, but Izo was furious. Marco had to admit he couldn’t remember seeing Izo this mad ever. Briefly, he wondered if he would survive this visit.

“I’ve been calling you all morning.” Appalled, Izo placed his hands on his hips and looked around the living room. “What the hell happened to this place?” He turned around. “You look like hell.”

Thatch pointed at Marco’s nose with a painful face. “He got you good, didn’t he?”

Gently, Marco felt at his nose. After Ace had clogged him and stormed out, he had gone to the emergency room. It turned out his nose was broken, but hadn’t appeared to be crooked, so they had placed a special cap on his nose to make sure it stayed straight and to protect it. He couldn’t do aikido for two weeks, though. “I let him,” he muttered.

Izo made a frustrated sound. “You know, I called Ace this morning since we couldn’t really get any information from your cryptic phone call. Why the hell did you break up with him?!”

Marco sighed and turned around. “Just leave me alone.”

“Not until you give me a decent answer! Ace said you didn’t even give _him_ a reason.”

“Then why would I give you one?”

Izo looked at him genuinely hurt. “We’re your brothers!”

Marco remained silent.

“Dude, you have some awful timing for breaking up,” Thatch said softly.

His brother’s comment made him want to rip out his hair, curl up in a corner and die. He was so lost in self-pity for a moment that he hadn’t heard Izo approach until he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Marco, are you that scared of being happy that you would sabotage the one relationship with the person that could have been the one? Marco, you love him!”

In the blink of an eye, Marco had turned around and had grabbed Izo’s wrist, his breathing heavy. Izo was caught off guard for a moment and just stared wide-eyed at Marco.

Brusquely, Marco let go of him. “Just… leave me alone.” Without looking back, he went upstairs.

* * *

It was a few days after the breakup. Ace’s life was going back to normal, as he still had to work like always. He hadn’t seen Marco the entire time, which only proved how talented Marco was at hiding from him. He supposed Marco had had a lot of practice when he first started working at the fire station.

Ace couldn’t say he didn’t appreciate not seeing Marco. He was doing his best at avoiding him as well, but given Marco’s talents, Ace didn’t have to go through much trouble. The rumours about their breakup were already buzzing through the fire station, including speculations about why and how Marco had broken his nose. That one was actually dead on, as everyone was convinced Ace clogged him in the face.

Today was Sunday, and he didn’t have to work, which meant he didn’t have any distractions. Sure, there was Luffy, but this one day Gramps had decided to take him fishing – Ace really wondered why he tried, it wasn’t like Luffy could sit still for more than two minutes. His grandfather had not been the most supportive about his breakup, hitting Ace over the head and asking him what he had done this time to drive Marco away. Ace had yelled that Marco had broken up with _him_ , but Garp had merely snorted and pulled Luffy along with him. Gramps did have a little sympathy for Ace, because he didn’t force him to come along.

Ace had been watching TV all day, just to take his mind off Marco. Thursday, after he got home, he had hoped Marco would call him to apologise and tell him it had been a mistake. But when his phone finally rang, it had been Izo calling to check up on him. He had never heard Izo that angry. He almost felt sorry for Marco. Almost. He heard Izo yell for Thatch and then Izo said he would take care of it. Ace could only assume he was going to yell at Marco and, silently, he was rooting for Izo. Nothing had changed, however, Marco hadn’t called him or approached him at the fire station, or at home for that matter. Even a furious Izo hadn’t been able to change it. Then, Ace had been certain this breakup was permanent.

The ringing of the doorbell woke him from his musings. Curious who it could be, he turned off the TV and opened the door. There, he was surprised by the faces of Thatch, Izo and Haruta.

“Hey guys,” he said, though it didn’t came out too enthusiastically.

Izo frowned worriedly. “How are you doing?”

He shrugged. “I’m okay.” He took a step aside to let the others in. “Why are you here?”

“To check up on you of course.” Haruta frowned as well. “Marco is acting really strange.”

Ace snorted. “You don’t say.”

“We’ve tried to talk some sense into him, but he won’t even tell us why he did what he did,” Izo said as he sat down.

“I’m sure he has a good reason,” Thatch said soothingly.

Izo rolled his eyes. “What reason could possibly be good enough to dump the one guy he is actually crazy about?”

“Thatch is right, you know,” Haruta piped up. “This is Marco we’re talking about. He doesn’t do things on a whim. He has thought long and hard about this and came to the conclusion that breaking up would be the best decision.”

Annoyed, Ace turned around. “I don’t want to hear it, okay? To me, he is just a coward who ran when things became too hot for him. I know you mean well, but you really suck at cheering me up. Could you please stop being his brothers for a moment and start being my friends?!”

The three brothers fell silent for a moment, until Thatch rose. “You’re right.” He wrapped an arm around Ace’s shoulder. “We’re actually here to invite you to this boxing match. And don’t worry, Marco isn’t coming. We’re all yours, the whole afternoon. Whaddya say?” He waved tickets in front of Ace’s face.

Still pouting a little, Ace grabbed the vouchers from his hands. “Fine. I’m in. But you buy my popcorn.”

A grin appeared on Thatch’s face. “You got it.”

Ace didn’t think it was possible after how miserable he had been feeling the last few days, but the brothers actually managed to cheer him up. Also, two guys beating each other up helped a little, especially when he imagined the one losing was Marco.

Laughing again felt really good, so when he was dropped at his home, slightly tipsy, he bowed. “Thank you for taking me out.”

“Of course~” Thatch said, more than a little tipsy. He poked Ace in the chest. “It’s not like you to be moping around.”

“Call us if you need anything,” Izo impressed on him. “We might be Marco’s brothers, but we’re also your friends.”

* * *

It was late Sunday night when the doorbell rang again. His brothers hadn’t dared to stop by again, not even Izo. Apparently, Izo had realised he wouldn’t get a straight answer and had started devoting his time to cheering Ace up, or so Marco heard. He was actually happy about that. With his brothers fussing over Ace, he didn’t only not have to worry about Ace being sad and lonely, but also no one would be so stupid as to try and harm Ace when the Whitebeard brothers were around. And if they were, well, they would soon regret their mistake.

Knowing Ace was taken care off, Marco devoted his energy to avoiding Ace. It wasn’t too hard, he only had to watch out when he went to work and when he went home. As expected, the other firefighters had taken Ace’s side, but nobody dared to do much more than give him dirty looks. He had never cared much about the opinions of the firefighters – with the exception of one, obviously – so it didn’t bother him in the slightest.

Though he sat in his office all day, he didn’t get much work done. He had barely slept the last few nights, being lucky if he had two or three hours of sleep. Guilt gnawed at him and made it impossible to focus on anything else.

More often than not, he stared out of the window of his office down on the training area, as he had done so many times before he had lost control and had indulged in a relationship with Ace.

Ace had been working out, shirtless as always, but at a certain point he had turned around, and Marco had known he had been caught. Ace’s lips had pulled into a thin line, and he had brusquely turned around, starting to train twice as hard as before to work off his rage. Marco had averted his eyes.

At that moment, he had known this couldn’t go on. He needed to get away, so he had taken up his vacation days starting Monday. He was going to his father’s place for a while, as everything in his own house reminded him of Ace.

The doorbell rang again, and Marco hoisted himself from the couch, rubbing his eyes. He had actually been dozing off, so this better be important. Phoenix, the bird he had gotten as a present from Ace and Luffy, sat on his shoulder. Marco had tried to set the parrot free, but Phoenix seemed content just sitting on his shoulder, so he had given up trying to get it back in his cage.

Much to his surprise, it were not his brothers, but someone else’s sibling who was standing on his doorstep.

“Luffy.”

“You look like a pirate!” Luffy started laughing, pointing at Phoenix, but when he calmed down, he leaned in and studied Marco’s still bandaged nose. “Did Ace do that?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you could beat Zoro. And you kept Gramps at bay,” Luffy summed up, counting on his fingers.

Marco averted his eyes. “I deserved it. So are you here to punch me as well?”

“Nah, Ace said he had taken care of it.”

“Then why are you here?”

Luffy put up his serious face, arms crossed before his chest, and opened his mouth to say something, when he started to sniffle. “Are you cooking?”

“Not anymore, but I have some leftovers if you–”

Luffy had already run past him, and, shaking his head, Marco closed the door. He followed Luffy to the kitchen and helped him heat up the food he had barely touched.

After the food was heated up, Luffy brought his plate to the couch and contently started to eat. Marco sunk down next to him, feeling exhausted, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep tonight either. Still, watching Luffy eat with great relish made him smile a little. “Have you been eating well lately?” he asked, despite knowing that even if Luffy had consumed a three course meal half an hour earlier, he would still be eating Marco’s food.

Luffy nodded with his mouth full. “Sanji has been coming over or sends food from the restaurant.” Licking his plate clean, he placed it on the coffee table and pulled a serious pace again, though the effect was a little lost as he had tomato sauce all over his face. Marco handed him napkin.

“Ace is really sad, you know,” Luffy said as he wiped his face clean.

Marco sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt him.”

“You’re hurt too.”

“It’s never fun to break up with someone,” he muttered. Phoenix shifted a little on his shoulder.

“I don’t like it when Ace is sad,” Luffy declared.

Marco brought his hand to his shoulder and let Phoenix hop onto his finger. “You just need to give him time,” he said as he caressed the little head of the bird. “Before you know it, he'll have forgotten all about me.” Somehow, that thought made his stomach turn, but he ignored the feeling of nausea.

Luffy pouted. “He doesn’t want to. Why did you break up with him?”

He hadn’t told Ace, nor has he told his own brothers. Pops was the only one who knew what really happened that night. Still, it must be the exhaustion, because he said: “I did something horrible he can never forgive me for. So he can never know.”

Luffy frowned, but before he could protest, Marco said: “Can you do me a favour? Part of the reason why I stayed as long with your brother as I did, is because someone is after his life.”

“I know,” Luffy said.

It always managed to surprise him how the usually dense Luffy was sharp when it mattered. Ace had never told his brother as not to make him worry, and Marco was sure he would have never found out if he hadn’t asked directly.

“Alright,” he said. “Please protect him.”

A grin threatened to split Luffy’s face in half. “Ace doesn’t need protection, silly. He’s my big brother!”

A little touched, Marco smiled as well. Luffy had so much faith in Ace, it was endearing.

“I should go.” Luffy hopped off the couch. “I went fishing with Gramps today and I fell in a pile of fish. Shishishi!”

So that was that smell.

At the door, Luffy turned around. “You know, I don’t think it was horrible what you did. And Ace won’t hate you.” With that, he left, leaving Marco gaping after him.

He had never considered that Luffy might have been there that night. He had always been focused on Ace and the other boy, Sabo. But as he tried to recall the events of that night, he remembered a detail that had never occurred to him before. In the crowd, behind the freckled boy crying over the body of his friend, was another black haired and even younger boy, wailing loudly.

And it would appear that that boy remembered him.


	27. Chapter 27

“Good morning,” Pops greeted him when Marco came down the stairs.

Marco hummed in reply and poured a cup of coffee for himself. Around him, a few of the nurses who took care of Pops were busy trying to take his temperature, but Whitebeard continued to swat their hands away.

“They’ll stop once you let them,” Marco remarked as he picked up the newspaper. “They are just concerned about your health, Pops.”

“My health is fine,” Whitebeard grumbled, but finally allowed the thermometer to be put into his mouth after the threat of taking his temperature some other way. Marco chuckled behind the newspaper; the nurses sure knew how to handle Pops.

“Speaking of health, how did you sleep, son?” Whitebeard asked when the nurses finally left him alone.

Marco stayed quiet for a moment. It was true that he had slept better now that he was back at his parental home, at least compared to the last few nights where two hours had seemed a long time. He had deliberately not picked his own bed here, though, as it, just like his bed at home, reminded him of Ace, even if they only slept together in it once. He should have never had sex with him that night, not only because of his current insomnia – they would have shared his bed either way even if it was just to sleep, so he was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep in it now anyway – but also because his foolish drunken brain had told Ace that he loved him. Which had prompted Ace to say it back and forcing Marco to break up with him.

Either way, it was his own fault. He should have broken up with Ace a long time ago, or rather, never started a relationship in the first place. He was a fool.

He had slept in Jozu’s bed for the night, but there were enough beds not to have to sleep in his own for a long time, even if he switched every night.

“I slept okay,” he replied to the question and took a sip of his coffee. When he looked over the edge of his mug, he noticed Whitebeard looking at him sceptically. “Better than at home, anyway,” he muttered.

“Sleep aside, how are you?” Pops pressed. They hadn’t really spoken the day before when Marco had arrived. As soon as Luffy had left, Marco had driven to Pops’ place. The plan had been to drive up there on Monday morning, which they had agreed upon, but after Luffy’s revelation, Marco didn’t feel like he could stay any longer at his own house. So he had loaded his suitcase and Phoenix into his car and driven off. Pops had already gone to bed, but Marco had the keys. Maybe the nurses had informed him about the car on the driveway, but just now, Whitebeard had not sounded surprised when Marco had come down the stairs, and there was enough breakfast for the both of them.

“I’m okay,” Marco answered, more out of reflex than anything else. Again, he received a sceptical look. Sighing, he said: “How do you think I am? I’m a grown man running to his daddy’s place when his relationship ends. I’m pathetic.”

The sceptical look turned into a worried one. “Marco, for the past ten years I have watched you pine away, eating yourself up about what happened. You never took a vacation–”

“I had my accident, I had plenty of free time then,” Marco reminded him.

Edward Newgate sighed. “That is not what I mean, and you know it.”

Marco kept silent.

“Marco, you deserve a break.”

But he shook his head. “I never made up for what I did. Hell, if anything, I made it worse. I’m not taking a vacation; I’m a coward hiding from his ex.”

Whitebeard just shook his head.

* * *

A few days later, Marco was reading the newspaper again. On the cover page was an article about a suspicious death of a journalist. It appeared to be a suicide, but for now, the police were still investigating.

Reading the article, something didn’t sit well with Marco. The paper mentioned the journalist was about to publish a book on corruption in large corporations and the higher ups working there, but the manuscript had been burned to ashes – something that appeared to be leaked to the press as the police would keep it quiet – and all the files on the computer had been deleted before the man had taken his life. _Or someone had taken it for him_ , Marco thought. Corruption with higher ups in large corporations? Would Akainu have been included in that? If so, Marco had no doubt that man had been the one to kill the journalist. Or rather, his band of assassins Shanks had mentioned.

Opening his laptop, Marco decided to google Akainu. Obviously, none of the information he found said anything about any assassins, let alone a band of vicious ones. Most articles he found were positive about Akainu, some called him merciless, but only in business. Marco had to hand it to him; he knew how to put up a front in public. On one site, he was even in the top twenty desirable businessmen of this year. Marco shook his head. If only they knew.

Staring at the photo of a friendly smiling Akainu, Marco reached for his phone and dialled a number.

After a few rings, a sleepy voice said: “What?”

Marco smirked. “Morning, sunshine.”

He was immediately hushed. “Not so loud.”

Marco heard Shanks yawn and a door being pulled shut when Shanks started to talk again, louder this time: “Fine, now I can talk. What do you want?”

“You got someone over?”

“Just tell me why the hell you woke me.”

Marco sighed. “I need to know everything you have on the assassins working for Akainu.”

The other end of the line stayed silent for a moment. “I can’t really help you with that,” Shanks said finally. “Rumour has it that it’s a band of rookies, but they’re very good at what they do. I think the leader calls himself Blackbeard?”

“Blackbeard?” Marco asked. He used his shoulder to hold his phone against his ear. “As in the pirate?”

“You sure know your pirates.” Marco could practically hear Shanks smirk.

Marco would have shrugged if his phone didn’t threaten to fall. “I just paid attention in history class.” He typed in ‘Blackbeard’ in Google. The information he found was about the notorious pirate Edward Teach – or Thatch, Marco couldn’t help but chuckle at that – who terrorised sailors on the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea form 1716 to 1718. Legend had it that the beheaded body of Teach swam three times around the ship before actually dying. While all interesting, it didn’t really help Marco in his investigation.

“Is that all you have?” he asked.

“Sorry, man. Why are you so interested anyway? Are you going to do something stupid? Speaking of which,” Shanks interrupted himself, “I heard you dumped your boy toy. So you weren’t kidding when you said it wouldn’t last. But you looked so happy last week.”

“A lot has happened,” Marco answered curtly. “Thanks, Shanks; that would be all.” Not giving Shanks the time to finish his protest, he hung up.

“Oi, Pops,” he called out as he closed his laptop.

Whitebeard looked up from his seat on the couch. “What is it, son?”

“Have you heard about an assassin called Blackbeard?”

“Only that people who have seen his face don’t live to tell about it.” Edward rose and walked over to Marco, who was lost in thoughts. “Are you worried about Ace?”

“Of course I am. Though, Shanks said it doesn’t seem like Akainu is that serious about killing him. It has been a few years, anyway. But he does hold a grudge…” He sighed.

A large hand ruffled his hair. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

* * *

It was well over two weeks since the breakup, and Marco’s nose had healed fully by now. That was convenient, since Ace might feel like breaking it again when he came over that night. They would celebrate Jozu’s and Kingdew’s birthdays, as they both had them in November, only two days apart. Ace had already been invited before Marco broke it off with him, and, according to Izo, Ace was still planning on coming. Marco didn’t see a reason for him not to, as Ace was still friends with his brothers. He would just have to stay out of Ace’s way. After all, he couldn’t stay away from his brothers’ birthdays.

His brothers had given up on trying to pry about the reason why he broke up with Ace, as, apparently, Thatch had convinced them all – if they hadn’t been already – that he must have a good reason for it. That didn’t stop some of them casting him pitying looks, or for some of the wives to slap the back of his head. He knew they all meant well, in their own way, and they only wanted him and Ace to be happy, preferably together. But as time passed, they left him be.

The party was just as loud as it had been almost three weeks ago when they celebrated four birthdays at the same time, and many of the same guests came. However, they didn’t have a barbeque beforehand this time, nor did Ace come earlier to help with the decorations. Marco assumed it was not to risk running into him.

Ace arrived when the room was already full with people, greeting everyone enthusiastically. Marco kept aloof from him, pretty much hiding in the corner with his beer. He couldn’t help but stare, though. Ace was bare-chested, as usual, shrugging off his motor jacket and throwing it on a random chair as he excitedly congratulated Kingdew and Jozu. Marco wanted to lick his abs just as much as he had wanted to on the first day, even though he had done it a million times in the meantime.

Their eyes met for a second, and Marco froze, his beer still in his hand. He expected Ace to come over and punch him in the face again, or glare at him at least. Instead, there was nothing. It was like Ace didn’t even know who he was. As if he didn’t care anymore.

All this time, from the moment they started dating, Marco’s worst fear had been that Ace would hate him. And he had fully expected that after he broke up with Ace right after he had told Marco he loved him. He knew he had crushed Ace, but he had expected Ace to hate him less than if he told the truth.

But this, the indifference, was so much worse than hate.

Ace went back to talking to his friends, as if he hadn’t even seen Marco. Marco knew he should be happy. Apparently, Ace was over him. He had moved on, like nothing ever happened. Like they had never dated. That was what Marco wanted, right?

Then why did it hurt so badly?

Had all the time they had spent together meant nothing to Ace? Had the fickle Ace realised he was never in love with Marco?

Despite everything, it had made Marco happy when Ace uttered those words, even though he knew he shouldn’t have been. That was why he had run off, well, partly. Walking outside usually calmed him and gave him time to think. Even though he had known what to do the moment Ace had said it. Even if it was just for a little while longer, he had wanted to pretend everything was okay between them. He had been lying to himself for months already, what were a few minutes longer? They couldn’t last, and when he got home, he had to end it.

Why did it have to be Ace, the one he had fallen in love with?

He had been so lost in thought, that he never noticed someone coming to stand next to him. It was only when Whitebeard hummed that Marco looked up.

“You know, son,” Pops started, “humans are sometimes surprisingly like phoenixes.”

“Are you saying we burst into flames?” he huffed.

Edward Newgate shook his head and placed a hand on Marco’s shoulder. “Sometimes we have to leap into the fire, before we get out reborn.”

Eyes wide, Marco turned to his father.

“It’s long overdue, boy, and you know it.” Gently, the hand on his shoulder pushed him in the direction Ace was standing.

His legs shaking, but still obeying him, Marco made his way through the crowd. He glanced at his father, eyes pleading, but Whitebeard gave him an encouraging nod. Marco knew he was right. If Ace had stopped caring about him anyway, what did he have to lose?

Thatch, with whom Ace had been talking, saw him approach and stopped mid-sentence. He had his arm wrapped around Nojiko, who had finally been introduced to everyone, accompanied by a smug Thatch’s “I told you she was real”.

Confused by Thatch’s sudden stop, Ace looked around. But despite seeing Marco, he just turned back and said: “So what were you saying?”

“Ace,” Marco tried, barely keeping his voice from quivering, “can I talk to you?”

He expected Ace to ignore him, but instead he said: “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

Marco sighed and turned around. He hadn’t really expected Ace to listen to him anyway. He had done nothing to deserve Ace’s time.

* * *

“Dude,” Thatch said slightly indignantly to Ace.

Ace shrugged. “What? I was in the middle of a conversation. I should just drop everything because mister has decided it is time to talk? I’m done with him, he’s had his chance.”

Thatch continued to stare at him, disapproving, and Nojiko joined in, her arms crossed before her chest. Neither of them seemed inclined to continue the conversation.

Ace sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine, you win.” He looked around. “I don’t see him anymore.”

“Try the top floor, on the balcony.”

Ace made an annoyed sound. “So now I have to look for him?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll find him there,” Thatch reassured him.

Ace huffed. “I’ll be back in five minutes.” He turned around and, after having made his way through the crowd, he stomped up the sets of stairs until he reached the upper floor. Immediately, he was hit by a cool breeze, and he saw that the balcony doors were open. So Thatch had been right. Approaching cautiously, Ace peered around the corner. Marco was standing against the railing, looking out over the garden and leaning on his elbows.

Ace huffed softly and stepped outside. “You wanted to talk? Then talk.”

Marco turned around brusquely; apparently, he hadn’t heard Ace approach. Marco opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Ace rolled his eyes. “This was a waste of time. I’m outta here.” But before he could step inside again, Marco grabbed his wrist.

“Please wait.”

Ace jerked his arm back, but turned to face Marco nonetheless. Impatiently, he tapped his foot. “What?”

Marco stared at the floor, playing with something rectangle in his pocket, the size of a pack of cigarettes. Didn’t someone tell Ace that Marco started smoking again? “I… I realise I owe you an explanation.”

“You owed me one two weeks ago,” Ace snapped. “Now I don’t care anymore. So if that’s all, I’m leaving.”

“Please,” Marco said again. “I need to say this. I should have told you this a long time ago…”

Frowning, Ace looked up. “Two weeks is not _that_ long,” he muttered.

But Marco shook his head. “I _need_ to say this,” he repeated. “Ace… Do you remember the night your friend… that Sabo died?”

Now Ace was even more confused. “What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I remember that night. It was the worst night of my life!”

“It was mine as well.”

Ace gaped at him. “Why would that be? I never told you when it happened, so how the hell would you know? Unless you were there…” He trailed off when Marco looked up and his gaze met those blue, blue eyes. Ace’s eyes widened and he swallowed thickly.

“That’s… That’s not possible,” he whispered barely audible. “That was you?”

* * *

_Sirens woke him up that night and it only took him a few seconds before he realised it was the fire brigade. Excitedly, he moved to his brother’s bed, shaking at Luffy’s shoulder. “Wake up! There is a fire, and it’s close by!”_

_“I’m sleepy,” Luffy muttered and turned over._

_Ace huffed. “Suit yourself.” Hastily, he ran down the stairs and put on his shoes. It was a good thing Gramps was working tonight; he would have never let him go out at this hour. But he was twelve, he could take care of himself!_

_Just as he was putting on his jacket over his pyjama, he saw Luffy standing behind him, his toy bear in his arm and rubbing his eyes. “Wanna see the fire,” he muttered._

_“Come on then!” Ace had heard other sirens as well, indicating that the police_ and _an ambulance had arrived as well. This must be a big fire._

_They ran outside, and Ace got his bicycle. Luffy hopped on the back as Ace started to peddle in the direction the sirens were coming from._

_The longer Ace cycled, however, the more an unsettling feeling nestled in his stomach. He knew the direction they were going in; he had cycled it hundreds of times to visit his friend. But that would be too much of a coincidence, right?_

_“Are we there yet?” Luffy whined. “I want to sleep.”_

_Ace didn’t respond. It wasn’t the first time they were going to see a fire. The first time had been when they rode along with Gramps in his police car, and a report of a fire had been announced. Gramps had turned on the sirens and both boys have never been more excited. The fire hadn’t been too large, there had been only one fire truck present, and nobody got hurt. Still, Ace had to admire the firefighters at work. But even more than that, the fire itself had been beautiful. Ace couldn’t help but stare at how the flames licked at the sky until they were vanquished forever._

_After that time, they had always gone to watch the fires that broke out in town. Not that there were that many or that there were often large ones, but even a chimney fire was exciting in a town like this. Luffy didn’t share Ace’s love for the flames or the admiration for the firefighters, he was mostly drawn by the excitement and just loved to follow Ace around._

_Following Ace was the reason he had become friends with Sabo as well. As a big brother, Ace was annoyed by Luffy following him and he had wanted to keep his friend for himself, but over time, they grew close, and Sabo had become their blood brother._

_Even though Ace wasn’t related to Luffy by blood, Garp had taken him in as a baby. Gramps was usually too busy to take care of them, so he had hired a babysitter called Dadan. Sabo wasn’t so lucky. He had to live in the upside of town with posh parents who didn’t give a crap about him. They used to, when they still thought there was ‘hope’ for Sabo, but Sabo insisted on playing with Ace and Luffy, who were hardly rich, so they had given up on Sabo and adopted a boy who did fit their mould. Sabo still lived in the enormous mansion, but he was fed by the kitchen staff and had to eat with them, if at all. When Ace had found out, he always made sure to bring a large bag of food with him or to take Sabo and Luffy on a dine-‘n-dash._

_The nagging feeling wouldn’t go away as he peddled on, it only became stronger. He was close to the mansion, and he wondered if Luffy realised the same thing. Luffy had gone quiet._

_The mansion loomed up in the distance, and Ace started to cycle faster than he had ever before. A large crowd had gathered before the house, talking in excited voices. Several police cars were parked, and the officers were busy keeping people away by using police tape._

_Ace threw down his bicycle, hardly waiting until Luffy had jumped off. Without thinking, he made his way through the crowd, using his elbows to push people aside and ignoring their glares. He needed to find Sabo, he needed to know his friend was okay._

_When he finally had arrived at the front of the crowd, he could see clearly what was happening. Several fire trucks were parked close to the mansion and firefighters were running around. A little more to the side, an ambulance was standing, the back doors opened. Ace could see Sabo’s mother, father and foster brother being treated for their wounds, but Sabo was nowhere to be seen. Staff members of the Robelle family were being interviewed by the police._

_Ducking under the police tape and ignoring the yells of the officers for him to get back, Ace rushed over to the ambulance. “Where is he?” he yelled at Sabo’s parents. “Where is Sabo?”_

_The mother and father looked at each other before looking at Ace. “We don’t know what you’re talking about, young man,” the father said. “Everyone is accounted for.”_

_“Liars! Where is Sabo?! Where is my friend?” Ace yelled. Tears had filled his eyes and he brusquely wiped them away._

_A firefighter stopped next to them, his body including his head all covered in protective gear. “What is he talking about?” he asked the parents sharply. “Is there still someone inside the house?”_

_“No, sir, the house is empty. Aside from our possessions,” the mother added bitterly._

_“Liars!” Ace screamed. “Sabo’s still inside!” He turned around and started running towards the burning house. The firefighters had retreated, as there was nothing more they could do but wait until the fire was satisfied and died out on its own. They couldn’t control it, nor save anything else._

_Why? Why would Sabo’s parents leave their son behind? If Sabo wasn’t at home, he would have been playing with Ace and Luffy. Ace should have asked him to spend the night at his place. Then they wouldn’t be in this mess._

_He neared the house and he could feel the heat of the fire on his face. A loud cracking sound could be heard when part of the roof collapsed. Ace’s breath hitched in his throat, but he continued on anyway. He was Sabo’s last hope, since no one believed him._

_He could almost reach the door handle when two strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist, and Ace could feel himself being pulled back, the door and the mansion soon being out of reach._

_“No!” he screamed and kicked his feet and squirmed in the iron hold the person had on him. “Let me go! Sabo!”_

_Finally, when they were at a safe distance from the house, the person holding him put him down. He immediately wanted to run back, but strong hands gripped his shoulders. The firefighter knelt down before him so he was at Ace’s eyelevel. “Is there anyone still in the house?”_

_Ace recognised the voice from the firefighter that had questioned Sabo’s parents earlier. “Yes!” It became harder and harder to hold his tears back. “My friend… Sabo’s still in there!” He started to sniffle._

_“Where can I find him?”_

_Ace opened his mouth and finally looked up. The firefighter was in full protective gear, his face covered as well, but Ace could see a pair of blue, blue eyes staring back at him. The firefighter wasn’t mocking him._

_“In the basement,” he whispered barely audible._

_The firefighter gave a curt nod with his head and then started to sprint back towards the house. Ace stared after him, his body shaking. He heard someone calling after the firefighter, which sounded like a warning. The house was about to collapse. The firefighter was risking his life for Sabo!_

_It felt like he was standing there for hours, agony gnawing at him. He had long ago stopped to try to hold back his tears, which were now streaming freely down his face. He felt someone tugging at his arm, but he was too numb to resist as he was pulled further away from the house. Sounds of large pieces of the structure collapsing had rung out through the night and Ace could only hope Sabo and the firefighter were alright._

_Then, finally, through the doorframe that had once held the front door, a figure of a man appeared, holding something small in his arm. To Ace, it was like it all went in slow motion. His face brightened and he pulled his arm loose from whoever was holding him as he ran towards the firefighter, in his head going through ways to thank him. He would never be able to, he was sure, but as long as Sabo was alive, was okay, he would do anything to show his gratitude._

_So why did the firefighter suddenly place the figure in his arms on the ground, lying down? Sabo should run towards Ace like he was running towards him!_

_A few of the nurses staffing the ambulance came running towards the firefighter, carrying some machines Ace couldn’t name. They knelt down next to the small body – why did Sabo look so small? He was just as tall as Ace was! – and doing something that Ace could only guess was trying to resuscitate him._

_The firefighter had taken a step back, giving the ambulance personnel some space, but Ace didn’t pay attention to him. He could only look at Sabo, how his friend was lying on the ground, motionless._

_The nurses moved away, shaking their heads. Sabo still hadn’t moved, which could only mean one thing._

_“No!” Ace screamed as he let himself fall on the ground next to the body of his friend. He buried his face in Sabo’s dirty shirt and cried._

* * *

Ace stood frozen, staring at Marco. His face was pale, making his freckles stand out even more, and his lips quivered. Marco hadn’t dared to say anything since realisation had hit Ace. He could only wait until the outburst.

“How long?” Ace whispered. “How long have you known?”

“I recognised you the moment I saw you,” he admitted softly.

Ace gasped a little, and Marco closed his eyes, waiting for a fist to connect with his face again, but the impact never came.

Ace turned around without saying a word and stormed off. Marco stared after him, taking a few deep, calming breaths. He heard someone downstairs calling out Ace’s name, followed by a door being slammed shut with a lot of force.

With trembling hands, Marco reached into his pocket and retrieved a package of cigarettes and a lighter. He placed one of the sticks in his mouth and lit it, taking a shaky breath in an attempt to calm down.

What had he done?

* * *

Marco was down to his last cigarette, for now holding it unlit between his fingers and staring at it. He had no idea how long he had been out here.

At a certain point, Izo had come looking for him, worried after had Ace stormed out. “What happened?” he had asked. “Ace suddenly ran out the door, and I think he took his motorcycle, even though he has been drinking! What the hell did you tell him?”

Marco had just shook his head, and his brother had left him alone. No one else had dared to bother him, which he was grateful for. He didn’t know what he would do after he had smoked his last cigarette. Would he go back inside? Could he ever face Ace again?

The panic that he had tried to repress by smoking crept back up and, placing the cigarette between his lips, he reached for his lighter. Unfortunately, he had placed it on the railing of the balcony, and, when he turned around to grab it, he accidentally knocked it off the railing with his elbow. He could see the device disappearing in the darkness until he heard a soft thud when it hit the ground, and he cursed, almost causing his last cigarette to follow.

Sighing, he turned around again, his back against the railing and his eyes closed as he still held the cigarette between his lips.

Suddenly, he heard a soft click and, when he opened his eyes, a small flame was licking at the end of his cigarette. Gratefully, he sucked in the hot smoke before he turned to face his helper. For the second time that night, his cigarette almost fell.

Ace was standing next to him, not making eye contact and playing with his lighter. He was wearing his motor jacket, which was hanging open.

“You… came back,” Marco managed to bring out, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

“Yeah,” Ace replied softly. “I just… I needed to clear my head.”

“Everyone was worried about you.” Marco didn’t add that he was included in that.

“Because I had some beers? I know, it was stupid. I didn’t leave your rural estate, though. Driving helps me think.” He turned to face Marco. “I just need to know one thing. Why would you think I would hate you?”

“Are you kidding me?” His voice came out sharper than he intended. “He _died_ , Ace, he died because of me!”

“What are you talking about? You were the only one that believed me! You risked your life for him! Yes, you were too late, but unless you stopped to make a sandwich, how would that be your fault?” Ace’s eyes were almost pleading.

“A beam had fallen over, blocking the door,” Marco whispered. “If only I had been faster…”

“Marco, _listen_ to me!” Ace took Marco’s face between his hands, forcing Marco to look at him. “This is _not_ your fault. I never blamed you for Sabo’s death. That is on his parents, and they paid the price. Marco, that fireman… _You_ are the reason that I wanted to become a firefighter. You risked your life for Sabo, a boy you never met and didn’t even know for sure existed. You believed me, and you were the only one. You gave Sabo a chance.”

Marco clenched his jaw, trying to fight back the tears. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go… Every time he imagined coming clean to Ace, Ace would hate him. It would range from him never speaking to Marco, to pushing Marco off this very balcony. Was this a cruel dream to give him hope? Would he wake up soon?

But Ace felt so real, his hands on Marco’s cheeks, and his eyes looking worried.

“I can’t believe you felt responsible for ten years,” Ace continued, his voice still soft. “I wish I had met you sooner so I could have told you that.” He slowly let go of Marco’s face and leaned against the railing next to him. “But if you knew this, and felt like this, why would you start a relationship with me?”

“Because I fell in love with you,” Marco admitted. His cigarette had died out. “And because I was weak. I made some attempts to try and scare you away–”

“Like telling me you wanted a serious relationship on our first date?” Ace chuckled a bit.

The corner of Marco’s mouth curled up a little. “Yeah, like that. And I tried, I really tried not to sleep with you…”

“Right… I kinda ruined that for you.”

They stayed silent for a moment, when Marco said: “I kept telling myself I could get out at any moment and that the only reason I stayed was to protect you from Akainu.” He looked at Ace the moment Ace turned his head as well and their eyes met. “It’s a lame excuse, I know, I just couldn’t help myself. I never meant to hurt you, Ace.”

“I know.” Ace sighed. “Fuck, this is messed up.” He let out a humourless laugh. “I just… While I do not hold you responsible for Sabo’s death, never did and never will – and I really need you to start believing that as well – I just can’t get past the fact that you have known this the whole time.”

Marco nodded. He was feeling numb, the whole conversation being so surreal. Ace knew, he knew what happened and what Marco had done, and yet he was still _here_. Trying to convince Marco that it wasn’t his fault, that he didn’t blame him. After ten years of feeling guilty, could he actually believe that?

He turned around, so that he was looking out over the garden, a single tear rolling down his cheek. Was this really happening?

A pair of arms, feeling so familiar, wrapped themselves around his waist, and Ace buried his face into Marco’s shirt against his back. “We both just need time,” he said softly. Marco could feel the vibrations run through his body. “Me, I need to learn to trust you again, and you,” he moved his head so his chin was resting against Marco’s back, “you need to learn how to forgive yourself.”

Marco nodded, unable to reply because of the lump in his throat. Hesitantly, his hand reached up and, gently, he placed it on top of Ace’s intertwined fingers that were resting on his stomach.

Ace moved his face again so his cheek was pressed against Marco. “I don’t want to lose you, though.” He pulled away and turned Marco around so he faced him. “Do you think… until then, we could be friends?”

It was more than he had hoped for, more than he deserved, really. So he forced a smile on his face and nodded. “I would like that.”

Ace’s face brightened, his lips stretching into a smile, revealing his white teeth a little, and Marco realised how much he had missed Ace’s smile. If he could see Ace laugh like that, maybe this whole friend thing wouldn’t be so bad.

“As a friend, I have to ask.” Ace moved to lean against the railing again. “Are you going to quit smoking again?”

“As a friend, do you think I should?” Marco asked, his tone slightly teasingly.

“Well, you do make it look sex… kinda cool, so you should be careful showing it off. You know, for the kids,” Ace hastily added.

Marco smiled at him. “I’ll remember that.”

They stared at each other for a moment, the air between them thick with tension.

Finally, Ace coughed, effectively ruining the moment. “So, you wanna go inside? Before all the beer is gone.”

“Yeah, why not.” Marco followed Ace inside.

* * *

Downstairs, the party was still going on and didn’t look like it would end soon.

When he noticed them, Izo clasped his hands together excitedly. “You guys made up!”

“We’re friends now,” Ace informed him. He knew that wasn’t what Izo wanted to hear, but this was the closest he could get with Marco at the moment. The amount of information he just received was a little overwhelming, and he needed to get his thoughts in order before he would give Marco another chance. Even though he had good reasons, Marco had betrayed his trust, but those same reasons proved what a wonderful man Marco was inside. Someone whom Ace wanted, no, needed in his life.

Izo’s face fell visibly. “Oh. Well, whatever floats your boat, I guess.”

“At least they’re talking again.” Thatch joined their little group and wrapped an arm around Izo.

Only now, Ace realised that Thatch’s forearm, which was hanging from Izo’s shoulder, was thicker than it was supposed to be. A second look confirmed it was wrapped in plaster. “What happened to your arm?”

Thatch exchanged a look with Izo, before giving Ace a sceptical look. “You weren’t listening to me at all before, were you?”

Ace felt his cheeks heat up. He had been so busy with pretending he was okay and over Marco, holding up his air of indifference, that he had missed large chunks of their conversation. “Yeah, well,” he muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

Thatch started to laugh. “It’s okay, you had a valid excuse. It had only been two weeks after all.” He winked at Ace before looking at his arm. “Anyway, it was an accident. Someone fell against me when I was standing on top of the stairs.”

Ace’s eyes widened, when Marco voiced his exact thoughts sharply: “You’re very lucky. You could have broken your neck!”

“Will you lighten up? It was an accident. The guy couldn’t stop apologising.” Thatch rolled his eyes. “Just because Ace has someone after his life, doesn’t mean everything is a conspiracy to kill people, you know. Stop being paranoid.”

Ace looked sharply at Marco when Thatch mentioned someone being after his life. Marco just shrugged. Ace wasn’t too surprised that Thatch – and the other brothers as well, probably – knew, though. After all, Thatch and Izo had helped Marco catch the guy that had given Ace the poisoned cake.

Marco was clearly not convinced by his brother’s words, but announced he would get more beer.

Something didn’t sit well with Ace. If he knew one thing about Marco, it was that he had pretty good instincts. So he ran after Marco, catching him by his sleeve. “You don’t think it was an accident.” It wasn’t a question.

Marco sighed and seemed to hesitate before he said: “To be honest, I never trusted the guy, but I don’t have anything to back it up. He has never done anything to deserve my distrust, really. I just can’t help this nagging feeling, nor can I place my finger on what it is. But you know me, I’m probably being overprotective and possibly a little paranoid, like Thatch said. Forget I said anything.”

“Marco.”

Marco stopped in his tracks.

“Who pushed Thatch down the stairs?”

Marco turned around and took a deep breath. “Marshall. Teach Marshall.”


	28. Chapter 28

It was Tuesday night, and Ace was home alone when the doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting anyone, though, as he had seen most of his friends the previous night when they went to a bar, and Luffy was supposed to stay at Chopper’s house tonight. Ace certainly hadn’t foreseen that when he opened the door, he would have the biggest basket of muffins he had ever seen shoved in his hands. He also didn’t expect Izo to turn around again without a word.

“Ehm, thanks?” he called after Izo.

“Don’t mention it.” Izo waved.

“Don’t you want to come in or something?”

Izo turned around. “Sorry, hon, I have to go. I have to have dinner with one of my sponsors.”

At second glance, Ace realised that Izo was dressed even fancier than usual, wrapped in what seemed like a new kimono, and hair and make-up done perfectly. “So what did I do to earn this many muffins?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Izo sighed and walked back towards him. “Technically, nothing. I either bake or draw when I’m upset, and I was out of charcoal. So when you’re done with this batch, there is more where that came from. Still, I’m proud of you and Marco for at least talking things out. Even though you’re still both idiots. But he is a bigger moron than you are, so you can pat yourself on the back for that.”

Ace was a little overwhelmed, but he did manage to pick something up. “Why were you upset?”

“Nothing important, just work stuff.” He barely finished his sentence when a car horn was honked. “See, now they’re getting impatient. I have to go, enjoy your muffins!”

Only now did Ace notice the limousine that was parked in front of his house. Apparently, Izo had convinced his sponsor to make a quick stop first to hand him the muffins.

“Oh, right!” Izo called over his shoulder. “You should call Marco!”

Before Ace could ask why, the car door was pulled shut, and the limousine drove off, leaving Ace perplexed behind. Well, he was never one to say no to free food, much less Izo’s muffins, so stuffing the first one in his mouth, he closed the door.

Walking back to his previously occupied spot on the couch, Ace wondered why Izo had told him to call Marco. They hadn’t really talked since Saturday night when they were on the balcony, only making shallow conversation after they decided to become friends. It was a pretty big bomb Marco had landed on him, after all, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he should have seen it coming. The fact that Marco had been avoiding him at first or that be didn’t want to sleep with Ace in the beginning of their relationship weren’t really telling, since they could have been caused by many reasons.

Marco had confessed to Ace that he thought he had killed someone and that had been an accident, but even knowing that Marco had been a firefighter, could he really have seen this coming? Never had Marco mentioned that he had lived in Foosha; that would have narrowed it down considerably. No, Marco had done everything in his power to prevent Ace from finding out, without outright lying to him.

He still wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole thing, however. Of course, he wasn’t mad at Marco for what happened; not one second had he blamed that firefighter for Sabo’s death, nor had Luffy.

Which brought him to a whole other problem. The moment he saw his brother after Jozu’s and Kingdew’s birthday, he had told Luffy who Marco really was. The only reaction he had gotten was his brother picking his nose and saying: “I know.” After having gaped at Luffy for a while, Luffy had shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

At that, Ace had almost exploded, until Luffy explained it wasn’t his place to tell. Of course, he had been right; Luffy always picked the worst of times to be right. Apparently, Luffy had seen Marco’s face that night, while Ace was crying on Sabo’s lifeless body. It was true that Ace had never looked up and when he finally did, the firefighter hadn’t been there anymore. Still, a lot of drama could have been avoided if Luffy just had spilled the secret.

Not that Ace was actually mad at him.

Even though he didn’t hold Marco responsible for Sabo’s death, he still felt betrayed. Marco had known the whole time that he was going to break up with Ace at some point, and it just felt like he had been kept dangling. He knew Marco did it with the best of intentions and only stayed because he couldn’t resist Ace – which was flattering in itself – but still, Marco had misled him at the very least. So he had every right to be upset with him, right?

On the other hand, Marco had been punishing himself for ten years for something he didn’t do. He hadn’t killed Sabo, yet he had saved numerous lives to try to make up for his death. He had even been planning to go back to his old ways as soon as he was fully healed! So hadn’t he been punished enough already? Who was Ace to make it worse?

He still loved Marco. Of course he did. He didn’t doubt Marco felt the same, he had confessed as much when they were talking on the balcony. But after everything that had happened, Ace didn’t feel comfortable resuming their relationship right away. He had made the right decision when he asked Marco to be friends; that way, he wouldn’t lose Marco, but it also gave them both some space to breathe. Especially Marco needed that. After ten years of feeling guilty – rightly or not – he couldn’t just shake this off and pretend it never happened. He needed time to heal.

No matter how badly Ace wanted him back.

During his musings, Ace had started scrolling through the photos on his phone. He was glad he didn’t delete them after their breakup as he had planned. Several pictures showed Marco being somewhat annoyed that his picture was taken, but, in others, he smiled fondly. That smile made Ace feel butterflies in his stomach. As he scrolled on, he saw a few images of him and Marco together, with Ace’s head on Marco’s shoulder or of them kissing. When he reached the next photo, he almost dropped his phone. He had forgotten that he had taken a naked picture of Marco. Marco hadn’t minded, he wasn’t ashamed of his body. Not that he had anything to be ashamed about.  
Ace bit his lip and caught himself zooming in on the photo. Hastily, he clicked the picture away. If he was to call Marco, arousing himself beforehand wasn’t the way to go. Unless they were to try phone sex–

Groaning, Ace let his head fell back. He really didn’t need to go there. Marco needed time, and so did he. No matter how hot and funny and sexy and sweet and perfect Marco was.

After having devoured another muffin – maybe a few more – Ace scrolled through his phone in search of Marco’s number. Maybe Marco had wanted to call him for some reason, but didn’t think he could? Ace didn’t see why not, but they were both new at this friend thing, so maybe Marco felt like he would overstep some boundary if he called. However, Izo had spiked Ace’s curiosity, so he dialled the number and waited until Marco picked up.

“Ace?” Marco’s voice sounded a little surprised.

“Hey,” he said smiling. Hearing Marco’s voice made him realise how much he missed Marco, but he tried not to show it. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” came the response.

“I’m not just trying to be polite, you know,” Ace pressed. “Come on, how are you really?”

He heard Marco sigh. “I’m not sure. Everything still feels a little surreal. Especially the fact that you’re still talking to me.”

“Marco…” he started.

“It’s not something I can turn like a switch, Ace. I wish I could.”

“I understand,” he said softly. “You need time.”

“I suppose I do.” It stayed silent for a moment. “Was that all you wanted to ask?”

“I thought you wanted to ask me something,” Ace said a little surprised. “Izo said I should call you, so I assumed you didn’t dare to or something.”

“When did you see Izo?” Marco asked.

“He stopped by just now to give me a basket of muffins.” Ace grinned like an idiot. “I still can’t believe you don’t like them, they’re amazing!”

Marco chuckled, sending butterflies to Ace’s stomach again.

Suddenly, however, he remembered the reason he had gotten the muffins. “Hey, Izo mentioned that he baked when he was upset, do you know what that is about?”

Marco stayed silent for a moment before he said: “I’m sorry, Ace, it’s not my place to tell.”

Ace snorted. “Where have I heard that before?” When Marco stayed quiet, Ace added: “I talked to Luffy. Apparently, he knew the whole time.”

“Yeah, that surprised me as well,” Marco muttered.

“So, what? You two talked about it?” Ace asked a little indignantly. That just felt like talking behind his back.

“I didn’t know he knew until we had already broken up. He stopped by,” Marco explained. “Honestly, I never considered that he could have been there just as well as you. Maybe I assumed he was too young.” Another silence fell. “Your brother is really sharp if he chooses to be,” Marco remarked fondly.

Ace smiled as he pulled off a piece of another muffin and put it in his mouth. “He sure is. Annoyingly so.” Not willing to hang up just yet, as he wanted to hear more of Marco’s voice, he decided to change the subject. “So, what are you doing now?”

Marco hummed, causing the butterflies to do their job again and, biting his lip, Ace rolled onto his stomach. Now was not the time!

“Nothing special. Just watching TV.”

“Let me guess, a detective show?”

Marco grinned a bit. “How did you guess?”

“Just a hunch.” Ace chuckled. Marco did love to watch detective shows. “So, what’s happening?”

“They just discovered a body in a burned down house, probably arson.”

“Fire? Awesome! What now?”

“You know, you could just turn on the television,” Marco said chuckling.

“I know, but it’s more fun when you’re here. On the phone, I mean,” he quickly added as he turned on the television and searched for the right channel. “Luffy isn’t here, so…”

“You’re home alone,” Marco finished his sentence.

“Yeah… I have muffins, though.”

Marco chuckled again, and the sound was infectious. They continued to talk during the show and the one after that. Ace was getting ready for bed – brushing your teeth while talking to someone wasn’t easy – and they still hadn’t hung up. Ace got the feeling Marco enjoyed their conversation as much as he did.

“Are you going to bed too?” he asked.

“I’m already in it,” Marco said humorously.

Ace made a nosedive onto his bed as well. “Me too.” He crawled under the blanket and yawned. “What are you up to tomorrow?”

“Nothing special, but I’m going back to work, so I might see you there.” Marco stayed silent for a moment. “Good night, Ace.”

“Night,” he mumbled, before he pressed the hang up button. Having heard Marco’s voice in his ear so close before falling asleep, it wasn’t hard to imagine Marco lying next to him.

* * *

_His blanket was pushed aside, and a warm body crawled behind him. Sleepily, Ace opened his eyes. “Luffy?” he muttered. “I thought you were at Chopper’s.”_

_“He is,” a familiar voice said, obviously not belonging to his brother._

_Ace bolted upright and groped for the light switch, but his hand was pulled down._

_“Marco?” he whispered. “How did you get in?”_

_He heard a chuckle in the dark, and a finger was pressed against his lips. “I know where the key is, remember?”_

_Ace nodded, not realising the man couldn’t see him in the dark. “But why…?”_

_“Why do you think?” Lips were pressed against his own, and Ace rolled on his back to return the kiss. It felt so nice to have Marco back like this. He didn’t care if it was too early, and Marco needed time; why else had he come here if he wasn’t ready?_

_Strong hands grabbed him by his shoulder and flipped him over so he was lying on his stomach. At first, he assumed that Marco was just being rough, even though Marco never was unless Ace asked for it. His arms were pinned above his head in an uncomfortable position and he struggled against the hold. “Marco, you’re hurting me!”_

_“That’s the intention,” a voice said. That was definitely not Marco's, but Ace would recognise it anywhere. He stiffened and his breath hitched._

_Suddenly, the lights were turned on, but they weren’t in his bedroom anymore. The light didn’t come from lamps, but from the burning building in front of him. Ace’s eyes widened when he recognised the mansion Sabo had lived in all those years ago. He saw a figure running inside and, instantly, he knew it was Marco. Somehow, he knew he should warn him, but when he tried to scream, he noticed that a gag covered his mouth._

_The house started to collapse, and, with tears in his eyes, Ace watched it crumble. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway, carrying a smaller figure. Ace wanted to cry in relief, until he saw it wasn’t Sabo, nor was it Marco holding him. The larger figure didn’t have a face, but the person he was carrying certainly did._

_Ace managed to scramble to his feet. He let himself fall to his knees next to the lifeless figure and cried on Marco’s chest._

* * *

Gasping for air, Ace woke up and went with his hand through his sweaty hair. His dream had seemed so real, but that couldn’t be, right? Marco didn’t die in a fire. He couldn’t have! He was the Phoenix!

Still, his heart didn’t stop racing, and his brain was deprived from all rational thought. Reaching for his phone, he had dialled Marco’s number. After a few rings that caused Ace almost to pull his hair out, he was greeted by a sleepy: “Hallo?”

“Marco! Thank God!” Relieved, Ace let himself fall back in his pillow.

“Of course. Who else would pick up?” Marco asked confusedly.

“Nothing, never mind. Sorry if I woke ya.”

Ace was about to hang up when Marco said: “Ace, what’s going on? We only talked a few hours ago.”

“I know. I’m sorry, it’s stupid. I just had this nightmare, and you died and I just…” He took a deep breath to prevent his voice from faltering. “It just seemed so real.”

“Tell me what happened.”

Ace kept silent for a moment. “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

Awkwardly, he shuffled back and forth on his feet. “’Cause it didn’t start out as a nightmare…”

“Just tell me, Ace. It will make you feel better to talk about it.”

Taking a deep breath, Ace started: “Fine. I dreamt I woke up because someone climbed into my bed. I thought it was Luffy, but it wasn’t. It was you.”

It stayed silent for a moment, before Marco hummed, encouraging him to continue.

“I never saw your face, but I heard your voice. We… fooled around a bit, but then suddenly you pinned me down and not in a good way, but when I told you it hurt, you weren’t there anymore. It was Akainu who pinned me down.” Ace swallowed. “And I sincerely hope that it wasn’t actually him the whole time, that would be disgusting,” he added as the thought struck him, and inadvertently wiped his lips with his hand. He then continued to tell the rest of his dream, until the part where Marco died in the fire.

By the time he had told Marco everything, he had calmed down a little, when suddenly the doorbell rang. “You might want to get that,” Marco said in his ear.

“You could hear that? It’s three in the morning, who would ring the doorbell at this hour?” Ace muttered, but went downstairs anyway. When he opened the door, his eyes widened when he recognised Marco standing on his doorstep. “What are you doing here?” he asked, as he stepped aside to let Marco in.

Marco took off his jacket and kicked off his shoes. He was still dressed in his pyjamas, the light blue silk ones Ace really liked. “You sounded upset, so I came over. Come on.” He started to make his way to Ace’s bedroom like he owned the place.

A little perplexed, Ace followed him. “But why?” he managed to stammer.

At his bedroom door, Marco turned around. “Because I know you. You don’t like to be alone. Besides, you owe me.” He crawled in Ace’s bed and held the blanket up invitingly for Ace to join him.

“I owe you?” he asked confused.

“You know I have trouble falling asleep without someone next to me, and you woke me up.”

“So now I have to pay you with my body?” Ace closed his eyes when he realised how it sounded.

Luckily, Marco chuckled and said: “Now, come on. I have to work in the morning.”

Giving up, Ace crawled next to him in bed. Marco wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. Ace sighed contently, but tried not to get too comfortable. If he hadn’t already been sure he wanted Marco back, this would definitely have settled it. Marco knew him better than anyone, except maybe Luffy, and he went out of his way to make Ace feel better. It was hard not to fall for him all over.

* * *

Marco woke up with something heavy on top of him, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as he would have expected. Perhaps because it felt so familiar. Opening his eyes, he was met by a mop of black hair, and he couldn’t help but smile. That explained why he had slept so well.

Ace stirred and, after heaving a content sigh, he opened his eyes blearily, blinking against the light. The moment he saw Marco, he bolted upright, frozen in his spot.

“Morning,” Marco said as he propped himself on his elbows.

“Morning,” Ace mumbled, looking anywhere but at Marco. He did move off him, though.

Marco stretched himself and yawned. He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to go out in the middle of the night and ring the doorbell at Ace’s house, all he knew was that he didn’t want Ace to be upset. When he had heard Ace’s quivering voice, he had just wanted to hold him. That he ended up sleeping better than the previous nights was only a bonus.

“How are you?” he asked Ace, who was currently inspecting his toes.

“I’m okay,” he muttered. “You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“If you don’t want me to come over, you shouldn’t call me in the middle of the night.” Marco checked his phone and cursed. If he didn’t hurry, he would be late for work. He still had to go home and change, after all. When he looked up, he saw Ace staring at him with big, brown eyes. Okay, now he had two reasons to get out as soon as he could, one being that he should leave before he did something he would regret, namely, kissing Ace senseless. “I have to go. I’ll see you at work?”

“Yeah.” He barely caught Ace’s final words before he hurried out of the house, still clad in his pyjamas. “Thanks, Marco.”

* * *

It was a couple of days later, and Ace had to admit he had been avoiding Marco. Not in a way that it was obvious, because he didn’t want to be called out on it, but seeing Marco had only resulted in Marco smiling at him and making him weak in the knees.

The whole being friends thing was so hard. He tried to remind himself that Marco had lied to him and hurt him, but when Marco smiled at him, he immediately forgot all that. So he had decided to bury himself in work, training at the gym and hanging out with his other friends in order to prevent running into Marco.

Of course, none of these things helped when Marco called him on his cell phone. Today was his day off, and, despite it being almost noon, he was still lying in bed. He contemplated about not picking up, as Marco’s voice would only make the butterflies start again, but on the other hand, as paradoxical as it sounded, he really wanted to listen to Marco. Thus, he picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey Ace, it’s me,” Marco’s voice sounded through the speakerphone.

“So I figured. What can I do you for?” He tried to act cool, ignoring the fact that his voice broke and that he actually had said “what can I do you for”.

“I’m not sure how this whole friend thing works, so I might cross a line here–”

“Please, we’ve already shared my bed,” Ace interrupted him. Immediately, he closed his eyes. Why did everything he said came out as an innuendo? Nami would call them Freudian slips. Then again, Marco wasn’t sure if he crossed a line, so maybe he wanted to go for a “friends with benefits” sort of thing? Ace wasn’t sure if he was opposed to that.

At that moment, he remembered Marco was calling him from his work phone. He probably wouldn’t need him for a booty call, then; they didn’t even do that when they were dating. Well, not much.

“I got a call from the Second Division. It seems there is a quarrel between some board members and as acting director, usually I’m the one to settle these things,” Marco continued.

Ace nodded slowly, wondering where this would go.

“Since my vacation, I’m a little behind at work. So I was wondering if you maybe could go in my place?” The question sounded hesitant.

Ace thought about it for a moment, feeling a little confused. Marco had been called away a few times when they were dating to settle problems between the board members or staff of the First Division, and he had even taken Ace with him a few times. He had never been to the Second Division, though; Marco called them an independent bunch, and they didn’t cause much trouble. That was the first thing that was odd about the request. The second thing was that Marco never let anything come between him and his family – and the orphanages counted as such – especially not work. There had to be something behind the request, but what?

“I understand if you don’t want to,” Marco continued. “Please don’t feel obligated.”

Ace realised he had been quiet for a while. “No, that’s not it,” he said hastily. “It’s just… Would they even listen to me?”

“Well, you would be there as my representative, so they’d better,” Marco joked. “I could ask one of my brothers, but sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes.” His voice sounded meaningful, like he was trying to tell Ace something without asking for it. “Thatch says hi, by the way.”

Then finally, the penny dropped. Marco was asking Ace to investigate Teach, who had grown up in the Second Division, if he remembered correctly. Marco had expressed his suspicions, but he had also said he might be a little overprotective and biased. After all, he had always had a bad feeling about Teach. When Ace met him, he kind of liked the guy, although he trusted Marco’s instincts. In any case, he was somewhat more impartial than Marco was, which was why Marco came to him.

“Sure, I’ll go check it out,” he said, trying to get across the message that he understood.

He could hear Marco sigh in relief. “Thank you. This has been gnawing at me. Anyway, do you still have the key to my place?”

“I think so.” Ace frowned. He had thought about throwing it in the pond nearby his house soon after they broke up, but in the end, he had kept it. Would Marco ask for it now?

“If you go in, there is a folder next to the door with information you might need, including the address. I could come pick it back up tonight if you want.”

That proved that Marco had known about the problems at the Second Division – which Ace doubted were serious – before he left for work that morning and probably had been debating calling Ace the whole time.

“Sure,” he said with a smile. Marco sounded so relieved because of him. He liked that he could help Marco out.

“I will call ahead that you’ll come in my place. Remember, you can ask for any file you might need,” Marco pressed. “Ask any staff member.”

Ace smiled again. “Got it. I’ll see you tonight, then.” With that, he hung up and, sighing, he placed his phone on his chest while he mulled it over. Marco thought Thatch’s broken arm might not have been an accident, but he seemed to be alone in that theory. Except for Ace, of course. That Thatch himself wasn’t sceptical didn’t surprise Ace much. Teach could have pushed him in the chest, and he probably would still have laughed it off. So Marco felt it to be his duty to protect his family, even if it was from someone on the inside.

Despite the graveness of the situation, Ace’s chest swelled with pride that he was the one chosen for the job. Of course, he was the person most objective as he didn’t know Teach and the family as long or as well as the others, but it did mean Marco trusted him with the lives of his family members. He was not going to let him down.

In record time, he took a shower, got dressed and had breakfast. In the shower, he had come up with an alternative information source and, still swallowing the last bite, he reached for his phone and called Smoker.

“What do you want now?” Smoker’s gruff voice greeted him.

“Morning, Smokey.” He eyed the clock. “Or afternoon. I need a favour.”

“I’m all out. You used up your last one when you urinated on my car,” Smoker grouched.

Ace had trouble holding back his laughter. Now that some time had passed, that story was becoming pretty funny. He just kind of wished he hadn’t hit on anyone. Or invited them all for a threesome. “Come on, Smokey, don’t be like that. I’m very sorry. I’ll even wash your car, if you do this for me!”

“You better wash it every week for a month if you want something from me.”

Ace contemplated for a moment, but since Thatch’s life may depend on it, it was probably worth it, so he agreed.

“Fine. Now what do you want?”

“I need you to check someone out.”

Smoker groaned. “Another boyfriend?”

“No, no. Not this time. Possible homicidal maniac,” Ace explained.

“What the hell? If you know something about a murder, you better tell me right now!” Smoker said warningly.

“There’s no murder,” Ace said soothing. “Not yet, anyway,” he added under his breath. “Just some suspicious behaviour. The name you look for is Marshall, Teach Marshall.”

He heard the sound of the keyboard being typed on. “Sorry, kid, this guy seems clean,” Smoker said after a while.

Ace swore softly. “Alright. Can you keep digging a little? And call me if you find anything.” Sighing, he hung up. It would have been too easy anyway.

He grabbed his helmet and headed for Marco’s house, where he retrieved the folder. Leafing through it as he made himself comfortable on the couch – trying not to let his mind wander to Marco’s birthday and what had happened on said couch – but he didn’t find much data he could use. There was some information about the building, when it was built, how many residents it could hold, etcetera. There was also a list of orphans and employees, but he only found Teach’s name on the list of former residents and on a very old picture. Other files were probably at the orphanage; that was why Marco had sent him there.

Putting the folder into his backpack because he might need it later and otherwise Marco didn’t have an excuse to stop by, he headed for the orphanage. When he arrived, he was welcomed by a friendly woman, who informed him that Marco had called them like he had promised. She called Ace a ‘nice young man’ and was thrilled Marco trusted him that much he sent him over. Normally, he always came himself, even just to check up on the staff and the building itself. She continued that she had always thought that Marco bit off more than he could chew and had impressed on him numerous times to hire someone to replace him as director, because even if they didn’t cause much trouble to call him out here, there still was a lot of paperwork. The boys, as she affectionately called Whitebeard’s sons, did a great job with the orphanages, but Marco was the only one with two Divisions under his care.

Ace listened to her ramble on until they came to the conference room where the board was waiting. As expected, the quarrel was resolved quickly, yet Ace still was held up for a couple of hours, because the staff insisted he got a tour through the house, and then the orphans insisted that he played with them. They were all nice people, and Ace could see why Marco didn’t want to give them up.

Between things, Ace managed to get his hands on Teach’s file, but unfortunately, he didn’t find anything to confirm or contradict Marco’s suspicions. He only learned that Teach was a bit of a rascal as a kid, but he hadn’t done anyhing illegal. The staff couldn’t help him much further either. The ones that still remembered Teach talked fondly of him when they recalled some of the mischief he pulled, but the only bad thing they accused him off was never returning after he turned eighteen and moved out.

Despite not having found out much, Ace didn’t see his time as wasted as he had resolved the quarrel and made a lot of new friends. The woman from the beginning said she would recommend Ace as replacing director, which caused Ace to blush.

He drove home, felling content with himself. He had taken Teach’s file with him so he could read it through again, just in case. Questions why he was so interested in him, he had brushed off.

* * *

When he arrived home again, Nami and Luffy were there as well. He greeted them casually, but as always, Nami was on to him.

“So where were you?” she inquired. “I know you didn’t have to work today.”

“A friend asked me to do a favour.” It wasn’t a lie, but he still knew she was on to him.

“What friend?”

He cursed under his breath, but at that moment, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” Relieved, he sprinted to the door. Before he opened it though, he checked the mirror next to the coat hooks and fixed his hair. Then, he took a deep breath and opened the door, trying to look relaxed. Still, he couldn’t prevent the smile from creeping up his face. “Hey, Marco.”

“Hey. Did it go well?” Marco asked, mirroring his smile.

“Yeah, it was all resolved pretty quickly. You must be a terrible director, though, they’ve already asked me to be your replacement,” he said jokingly.

Marco chuckled. “You must have done a good job, then.”

He shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “Oh, you know… They’re very nice people.”

“Did you find anything else?” Marco asked carefully.

“Nothing much, sorry. I called Smoker.” Did he imagine it or did Marco’s face fall a little? “Just to see if he has a record or something. Nothing so far.”

“Okay.” Marco sighed. “It’s probably all in my head, but maybe the nagging feeling will go away now. I really appreciate you giving up your free day for me, though,” he changed the subject. “If there is anything I can do for you, let me know.”

“Take me out to dinner.” Ace made sure that he said it half-jokingly, so that if Marco looked at him weirdly, he had a way out. But silently, he hoped Marco would accept.

Just as Marco opened his mouth to respond, however, Luffy jumped onto Ace’s back, exclaiming: “Yay, food!”

Ace winced. This was one of those moments he would really like to strangle his brother.

“Count me in,” Nami’s voice sounded as well. She had also appeared in the hallway, a hand on her hip. “You,” she turned to Marco, “left me alone with these morons. You owe me. Be glad I let you off easy.”

Marco shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“Great, I know just the place.” Within a second, Nami had fished her phone out of her pocket and dialled a number. “Hello, Baratie…?”

Marco winced as Nami continued to make a reservation. “That’s going to hurt my wallet.”

“Going out with Nami always does.” Ace smirked. Then he continued more seriously: “You don’t have to do this, you know. You can just say no.”

“Really, it’s fine. She’s right, it’s the least I can do.”

Ace looked up and met Marco’s gaze. Nervously, he played with his hair.

“Alright, reservations in an hour,” Nami announced, effectively ruining the moment.

“I should put on a clean shirt,” Ace said hastily, as he put his brother down. “One of the kids spit up on me, so…” Not bothering to finish his sentence, he flicked a glance over at Marco and then hurried upstairs. He looked through the clothes lying around his room – he should do laundry soon – for something acceptable to wear, preferably something that made him look irresistible.

“You were so flirting with him,” Nami’s voice sounded suddenly and brusquely behind him.

Ace turned around. “Was not, and close the fucking door!” he hissed.

Nami rolled her eyes, but did as he asked, only stepping inside before she did. “Come on, I know flirting. Besides, you were totally asking him out.”

“I was joking,” he muttered.

“Right.”

“Alright, fine! Maybe I was flirting a little. Maybe I’ve been thinking about getting together again, alright?” Ace let himself fall on the bed and groaned.

“So he’s the ‘friend’ you did a ‘favour’ for?” she inquired.

“Don’t make it sound dirty! I went by the orphanage, of which he is the director, to help out.”

“That explains the kid spitting up,” she muttered, but continued louder: “Are you sure it’s a good idea to get back together so soon? Last week around this time you wanted to have nothing to do with him.” Nami sat down next to him on the bed.

Ace shrugged. “Last week I didn’t have all the facts. Now I do. I know he didn’t handle things perfectly, but he only did it because he cares for me. And I know he needs time to heal, but if things were to happen, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.” Carefully, he peeked at her.

Nami sighed. “I really like Marco, I do, but I don’t like to see you hurt. I never saw you like you were after he broke up with you, and I don’t want to see that again.”

“This time it would be different.”

“If you say so. Just be careful, okay?” She rose from the bed as he nodded and made for the door.

After she had left, Ace stayed on the bed for a while longer. He still cared deeply for Marco, but Nami was right, he shouldn’t rush things. That didn’t mean, however, that he would stop things from happening, were they to occur.

Finally, he put on a black t-shirt that was perhaps a little too tight and, after freshening up some more, he made his way downstairs. Marco was playing a videogame with Luffy, and it seemed like he had fun. When Ace entered the living room, Marco’s eyes flicked up to him, and, with satisfaction, Ace noted that Marco was checking him out, though subtly. As Ace went to the kitchen to get something to drink, he may have swayed his hips a little more than necessary.

When he got back, he and Nami joined in on the videogame. Ace was sitting on the floor, resting against Marco’s legs as he beat the crap out of him on screen.

About forty-five minutes later, Nami announced they had to go if they wanted to make their reservation.

They all got into Marco’s car, and Ace sat down in the passenger seat, feeling nervous. When Marco smiled at him, he flashed a grin back before he pretended to struggle with his seatbelt and had to focus his attention on that.

The drive to the Baratie wasn’t that long, and, once inside, a waiter brought them to their table after Nami had stated she had a reservation. They had hardly taken a seat when a loud exclamation of “Nami-swan!” could be heard from the kitchen, and, not long after that, Sanji came dancing their way, practically followed by a trail of hearts.

Ace couldn’t help but chuckle. Despite dating and even living together with one of Ace’s best – male – friends, Sanji just couldn’t help himself around the ladies. Zoro had complained about it more than once, but he also knew there was nothing to worry about. Sanji behaved like an idiot, but he never touched.

“Nami-swan, your beauty never fails to light up my unworthy heart,” Sanji exclaimed before he seemed to notice the others. His eyes rested for a moment on Marco, and a curly eyebrow was raised. “Oh, you’re back?”

“We’re friends now,” Ace said quickly.

Sanji didn’t seem convinced, but shrugged. “Whatever works for ya, I guess.” He focused his attention on Luffy when he tugged at his sleeve.

“Marco’s paying, so Nami said I could order what I want. I would like all the meat.” Luffy beamed.

“And I would like the lobster,” Nami said with an evil grin directed at Marco. Obviously, she had picked the most expensive item on the menu.

“Right away, my swan~” Sanji took out a notepad despite wearing his chef’s uniform. “Have you two decided yet?” He looked at Ace and Marco.

They barely had a chance to look at the menu, but Ace wasn’t a picky eater, so he pointed at two random dishes. Marco made his choice as well, and Sanji beckoned over a waiter to take their drinking orders.

When Marco excused himself to go to the bathroom, Ace couldn’t help but stare after him, sighing longingly. Turning back to the table, he was met by Nami’s catlike grin and Luffy’s everlasting one.

“What?” he said.

“You can follow him if you like,” Nami said, batting away Luffy’s hand from claiming more of the bread that was on the table.

“Please, I don’t need to follow him everywhere.” Demonstratively, Ace crossed his arms before his chest and stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth. His willpower lasted exactly until he was done chewing the bread and, claiming he had to pee, he made his way to the bathroom, ignoring Nami’s snickers.

In the men’s room, he found Marco washing his hands. “Hey,” he greeted him.

Marco looked up and smiled. “Hi.”

“It’s really sweet of you to take Nami and Luffy out to dinner. You really didn’t have to, you know.” Ace leaned on the washbasin next to Marco.

“It’s okay. I mean, I might have to work some overtime to pay for food the rest of the month, but I like Luffy. And Nami as well, though my wallet disagrees at this point.” Marco started to dry his hands.

“Is there someone else you like?”

Marco looked up and their eyes met. “There might be.” His voice sounded soft.

Ace moved almost automatically, stepping closer to him. Marco’s eyes flicked to his lips and Ace swallowed, not wanting to break the spell. Marco moved as well, bringing his face closer to Ace’s. Ace’s lips parted slightly as he felt Marco’s warm breath on his face.

Suddenly, Marco pulled back and reached in his pant pocket. Ace had to bite his lip not to curse, but when Marco retrieved his phone from his pocket, he understood.

“I’m sorry, it’s Izo,” Marco said apologetically.

Ace nodded, though pouting a little. Izo was the one who always encouraged them to get together. Couldn’t he have better timing?!

The almost kiss disappeared from his mind when he saw Marco’s face pale. “Please, remain calm,” Ace heard him say. “I’m on my way.” He hung up, but stared at the device for a moment.

“Marco?” Ace tried carefully. “What’s going on?”

“I have to go.” Without another word, he stormed out of the bathroom, followed in his footsteps by Ace. At the table, Marco apologised again and said he had to leave suddenly.

Before he could sprint away, Nami said indignantly: “Oi, you were supposed to pay!”

Marco patted himself down, looking dazed, and threw his credit card on the table. “Enjoy your meal.”

Ace saw Nami’s eyes glisten and turn to pound-signs. “Give me that,” he said, pulling the card from her hands, and he followed Marco. He caught up with him in the car park. “Marco, what the hell is going on? You don’t give Nami your credit card, ever!” He walked closer to Marco and cupped his cheek with his hand. “Marco, what happened?” he asked softly.

Marco swallowed a few times. “It’s Thatch,” he managed to bring out.

Ace felt like a bucket of ice water was thrown over him. He should have seen it coming. “What happened?” he whispered.

Marco closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “He was stabbed in the back.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Rheessa, for pointing out some medical things.

He wasn’t sure how long he was standing there, staring at Marco. Several times, he had tried to say something, but his throat was suddenly completely dry. Swallowing hard, he finally managed to croak out: “Is he…?”

To his relief, Marco shook his head. “No!” For a moment, the worried frown disappeared, only to appear again right away. “But he lost a lot of blood. He is in surgery, Ace.”

Slowly, Ace nodded. That wasn’t so bad, right? Zoro had even been in a coma and he was fine! He knew he was kidding himself, but right now, he needed something to hold onto, mostly because he needed to be there for Marco and the other brothers. Thatch was his friend, but he was their brother, their family.

“I’m coming with you,” he said firmly.

“What about your dinner?” Marco protested. Obviously, he wasn’t thinking clearly, affirming that he needed Ace by his side.

“You think I’m hungry at the moment? Where is Izo now?” Ace demanded.

“At the hospital.”

“Then let’s go there. Come on, Marco, you can’t leave Izo alone!” Ace pushed Marco into the driver seat of his car. It was too bad he didn’t have a driver’s licence of his own, since Marco clearly wasn’t in the shape to sit behind the wheel. Fortunately, Marco seemed to snap out of his daze and started the engine while Ace took place in the passenger seat.

“Won’t your brother be worried?” Marco asked when they turned up to the road.

“I’ll text him that I won’t be joining them again.” Doing just that, Ace watched Marco from the corner of his eye. Marco was pale, and his jaw clenched. It was the most emotion Ace had seen on his face in a long time, even though his eyes usually betrayed him. They were now dark with worry, but Marco did have the car under control, much to Ace’s relief. Hesitantly, he reached out his hand and placed it on top of Marco’s that was resting on the gearstick. Marco’s eyes flicked over to him, but he didn’t do anything to remove Ace’s hand, not even when he squeezed Marco’s gently.

Ace got a text back from Luffy saying that Nami had arranged something with Sanji so she didn’t have to pay, but he complained that he had to work off his debt. Ace let out a sad chuckle, and he was about to tell Marco in a vain attempt to cheer him up, when his phone rang. For a moment, he stared at the screen. “It’s Izo.”

“Pick up,” Marco commanded. “Put it on speaker.”

Ace did as he was told. “Hey, Izo,” he tried carefully. He was met by the sound of sobbing on the other end of the line, and the frown on his forehead deepened. Izo obviously felt the need to inform him about what happened, so Ace decided to help him out. “Izo, I heard what happened from Marco. I’m with him right now. We’re on our way to the hospital, just hang in there a little longer, okay?” he pleaded.

Izo started to talk, but Ace couldn’t make much of it between the sobs. He looked at Marco, who took over his phone. “Izo, listen to me. We’ll be there in about half an hour. Have you informed the others?”

Izo took a shaky breath, but did seem to calm down when he heard Marco’s voice. “Pops did. They’re on their way. How could this happen, Marco? Everyone loves Thatch!”

“I don’t know, Izo,” Marco sighed. Obviously, he was lying, but Ace understood that he didn’t want to upset Izo even more than he already was by telling him that their main suspect was someone he knew and liked. Had Teach come back to finish the job?

“Izo, did you find him?” Ace carefully asked.

Izo made a choking sound and sniffled. “Yes,” he finally said. “I was in the neighbourhood after a meeting with a client, so I decided to stop by Thatch’s place to stay over. I have the key to his place, so I didn’t bother ringing the doorbell. And then I found him. God, Ace, there was so much blood! He is in surgery now, they won’t allow me in there, and nobody is telling me anything!” He started to cry again.

Ace exchanged a look with Marco and then softly started to talk to Izo, trying to calm him down. Izo and Thatch were very close, they had been best friends since childhood, according to Marco, so for Izo to find Thatch like that, it must have been horrible.

He kept talking soothingly until Marco pulled up to the car park of the hospital. Ace barely waited until the car was parked before he jumped out of the vehicle. They both hurried inside and asked the nurse at the reception where they could find Thatch. As expected, he was still in surgery, so they went to look for Izo.

They found him standing in front of the door to the operation room. Ace had never seen Izo like this. His make-up had run, and his hair was a mess, probably from constantly gripping it in frustration. At first, Izo didn’t respond when they came standing next to him, just kept looking through the small window, his hands clasped together before his chest.

When Ace carefully touched his shoulder, Izo whipped around. Recognising Ace, he threw his arms around Ace’s neck and started sobbing again. Gently, Ace led him to the chairs that were standing in the hall. Marco took a seat as well, his jaw stiff and clenched shut.

They were the first ones at the hospital, but over the next hour, the rest of the brothers tickled in, all of them looking equally upset.

Finally, a nurse informed them that the surgery was done. Izo jumped up and pulled at her shirt. “How is he?!”

“He is stable, for now,” she said as she pried his hands loose. “But he is still unresponsive. All we can do is wait.”

Silently, the brothers followed her to the room Thatch was placed in. He was lying on a bed, his eyes closed. Ace had trouble recognising him. Thatch was pale, all the blood drained form his face, and, for once, he wasn’t smiling. His hair, usually held up in a pompadour, was now lying around his face in a dishevelled mess.

Izo immediately let go of Ace, whom he had been leaning on, and made his way to the bed. With trembling hands, he touched Thatch’s face, before covering his own. Rakuyo, who was standing closest to him, wrapped an arm around Izo.

Inadvertently, Ace’s hand searched for Marco’s while never taking his eyes of Thatch. He could only imagine what was going through Marco’s head. Marco’s face was a mask, as usual, and while it was still pale, he didn’t look as upset as the others. Ace knew he was trying to appear strong, for his brothers. After all, it was him whom they all looked up to and who was supposed to get them all through it.

Fossa was the last to enter the room, followed by Whitebeard himself. Edward Newgate’s eyes met Ace’s for a moment, and he nodded at Ace in silent acknowledgement before he went to his son’s bedside.

“Marco, can I talk to you?” Fossa asked in a low voice.

Marco nodded and let go of Ace’s hand, after having given it a squeeze. “Please watch Izo,” he whispered in Ace’s ear before he followed Fossa out of the room.

Ace looked at Izo who had buried his face in Thatch’s hospital gown and was wailing. Gently, Ace shook at his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go get some coffee,” he said softly.

At first, Izo didn’t seem to want to leave, but after Kingdew and Jiru said they would come too, Izo let himself be led out of the room.

“Go on ahead,” he said to his brothers. “I need to freshen up.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ace offered and followed Izo into the men’s room.

Izo stood in front of the mirror above the washbasin and stared at his reflection. “Oh God,” he muttered. “The one day I’m not wearing waterproof.” He let out a sound between a sob and a chuckle before he started to wipe away the remnants of his make-up.

Ace watched as inch by inch of Izo’s face became visible, and he realised he had never seen Izo without make-up. He was still very pretty, especially when his hair came down from the dishevelled bun.

“How are you?” he asked softly.

“I’m perfect,” Izo snarled back. Then he sighed and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ace was taken by surprise when Izo threw himself at Ace and buried his face in the crook of his neck, but wrapped his arms around Izo anyway. They stood like that for a while, until Izo took a raspy breath and let go of Ace. They left the men’s room without a word and made their way to the cafeteria. Kingdew and Jiru were busy filling sixteen cups of coffee and placing them on trays, which Ace and Izo helped carry back to the room.

As soon as everyone was provided, Marco cleared his throat. “Fossa informed me that the police is currently investigating what happened. For now, it seems to be a robbery gone wrong. They assume Thatch surprised the burglar, who then grabbed a knife from the kitchen.”

Ace frowned. The police might think so, but Marco sure as hell didn’t. Neither did he. Still, Marco seemed to deem it better to keep his suspicions from his brothers until they were confirmed, or at least give them some time.

“I also spoke with a doctor. Thatch is stable, but non-responsive. They couldn’t tell me whether he will make it or not.” Marco’s voice was soft, and several sobs and sniffs sounded in the room. “There is nothing we can do for now, except wait,” Marco continued. “I propose we all go to Pops’ place for tonight.”

“No,” Izo, who had been standing by the bed, holding Thatch’s hand the whole time, said firmly. “I’m not leaving him, and you can’t make me.”

“I’ll stay here too,” Haruta offered.

“Are you sure?” Marco asked frowning.

“Marco.” Ace gave him a meaningful look, and Marco nodded.

“Alright, we’ll take shifts. Izo, Haruta, you’ll the first watch. Call if anything happens.” After the brothers nodded, the others left the room after having said goodbye. When Ace was about to leave the room, Haruta grabbed him by his sleeve. “You’re going too, right?”

“To your dad’s house? Yeah, I was planning on that.”

“Take good care of Marco,” Haruta said in a soft voice. “To him, it’s just as hard as for the rest of us, but he also carries the burden of leading us. So please keep an eye on him?”

Ace nodded. “Don’t worry.”

He stepped into Marco’s car, along with Marco and Atmos, who had come by bus. On their way to Whitebeard’s house, no one spoke a word. Once inside, it was concluded that most of the brothers hadn’t eaten yet as they were called away around dinner time. It dampened the mood even more since Thatch had been the one to usually cook for all of them, so they decided to order food, though nobody was really hungry. Three different delivery guys came by to drop off various kinds of food, and they ate in silence.

During the meal, Ace kept an eye on Marco. Marco was constantly dishing out food to make sure that everyone had enough, except for himself. A little annoyed, Ace shoved a slice of pizza in Marco’s mouth, causing Marco to look up surprised, but he got the hint.

After dinner, Namur left to go back to the hospital to take Haruta’s place in the watch. Izo had already made clear he wasn’t going anywhere all night, but no one wanted to leave him alone. The others retreated to do something to distract themselves. Some went to bed, others played videogames or went to the gym that was apparently in the basement. Marco stayed behind to talk to Whitebeard, so Ace decided to talk to all the brothers to see if they were okay.

“It’s so weird to see Thatch like that,” Rakuyo said as he punched the punchball in the basement. “He can be annoying at times, but seeing him so quiet, it’s just eerie.”

“Has anyone informed Nojiko yet?” Ace asked.

“We’ve tried, but we haven’t been able to get hold of her yet. She actually left the country today, after Thatch spent a few days with her. He literally just got home when it happened.” Blamenco took a long swig from the bottle of rum in his hand.

Ace nodded. If Thatch hadn’t been home for a few days because he was staying at Nojiko’s, that could explain why Teach didn’t finish the job sooner. Thatch had been lucky Izo had decided to stop by, or he would have been dead by now.

“We really appreciate you being here, Ace,” Vista commented and slapped him on the shoulder. “Even though you and Marco broke up, you’re still part of the family.”

“Besides, you’re the only one he listens to. You saw what he did during dinner, he made sure everyone was well fed, forgetting to include himself. He always does that, but he ignores us when we comment on it.” Curiel sat down next to Ace and shook his head.

“I’ll try my best. How is Makino doing, by the way?” Ace suddenly remembered.

“She and the baby are doing fine. You know her, she’s a tough lady.” Curiel let out a laugh, though it didn’t sound very cheery. It was weird to be in the same house that the previous times Ace visited had been so happy and cheerful. The people he had seen laughing back then, less than a week ago, were now all ashen and wore a worried frown.

“I’m going to look for Marco,” he announced. “You guys gonna be okay?” He was met by not too enthusiastic responses.

After searching for a while, he found Marco in his own bedroom, staring at Thatch’s bed. He didn’t acknowledge Ace coming in or sitting down next to him on the bed, for that matter. Ace stayed quiet for a moment, but as soon as he breathed in, he could smell the smell of smoke coming from Marco. It made sense for him to smoke, after all, he was under a lot of stress.

Marco shouldn’t be carrying this burden, not alone. It wasn’t his fault, though he was no doubt blaming himself for not preventing the attack. And knowing him, he would beat himself up about it for the rest of his life, especially if Thatch didn’t make it. Marco shouldn’t also have to worry about Teach as well.

Ace made a decision. He would be the one to avenge Thatch.

Finally, Marco looked to the side to where Ace was sitting. “Hey,” he said softly.

“Hi. How are you doing?” Ace looked at him worriedly.

Marco sighed and shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Considering the circumstances. I’m worried about the others, though. And Izo, specifically. He is not taking it well, and if Thatch…” He trailed off, not able to utter the words. Instead, he shook his head. “It will destroy him.”

Ace nodded sadly and after a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Marco’s waist.

Gently, Marco started to caress his hair. “How about you? You’ve done nothing but take care of the guys – and me – since you got here. You must be hurting as well.”

“Of course I am!” Ace sat up. “Thatch is my friend. This is the whole Zoro thing all over again! I can’t stand it if my friends get hurt!” He couldn’t prevent the tears from rolling down his cheeks. Despite his resolve to make Teach pay, he still felt helpless. After all, it wouldn’t matter for Thatch’s health.

Marco took his face between his hands and wiped away the tears with his thumbs. “I know how you feel. I’m really grateful you’re here, Ace.” His face softened. “I don’t know what I would do without you,” he whispered.

Ace bit his lip and he caught Marco’s eyes flick towards his mouth, if only for a second. Slowly, he pushed Marco’s hands away from his face and leaned in. Their lips met, hesitantly, hardly more than a brush, when Marco pulled back. “Ace, we really shouldn’t.”

Ace sat down beside him and sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He moved so he was sitting between Marco’s legs and curled up against him. “Everything sucks,” he said softly.

“Yeah.” He started to caress Ace’s hair again, and Ace bit his lip. Marco smelled nice, despite the smoke, and the way they were sitting was so familiar… Reluctantly, he sat up. “I’m sorry, I should be the one comforting you.”

“You’re here, that’s enough.” Marco caressed his face, but Ace shook his head.

“It’s not. Nothing is.” He pulled Marco next to him, so that they were both lying on the mattress and this time wrapped his arms around Marco’s torso. “You never told your brothers about Teach,” he said in a soft voice.

“I don’t want them to know until I’m a hundred percent sure. I did tell Pops, though.” Marco sighed and pulled Ace a little closer against him. “I really hope I’m wrong.”

“I don’t know, you have good instincts, Marco.”

He snorted. “Yeah, real good ones. Look where they got me.”

Ace sat up. “Your problem is that you overthink everything. There’s nothing wrong with your gut.” He gently caressed Marco’s face, enjoying the familiar feeling of the stubble beneath his fingers. “We should probably try to get some sleep.”

As long as Marco was awake, Ace couldn’t leave to take care of Teach. Marco might have his doubts whether he was right or not, but Ace didn’t. He would make Teach pay, even if it killed him.

“I don’t know if I can sleep tonight.”

“I can stay,” Ace offered. “I know you sleep better with someone beside you. I don’t mind.”

Marco smiled weakly. “I’d like that, but I’m not sure even that will do the trick.”

“Then how about a cup of tea?”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea.” Marco got ready to stand up when Ace stopped him.

“I can handle _tea_ ,” he said a little insulted. He climbed over Marco to step off the bed and pulled up his boxers.

“The fire blanket is in the lower cabinet,” Marco called after him as he pulled the door shut behind him. Ace had to suppress the urge to open it again and stick out his tongue. So he just did it with the door still shut.

He made his way to the kitchen and when he had located the fire blanket – better safe than sorry – he put on the electric kettle.

A few minutes later, he walked up the stairs with two mugs filled with piping hot tea. When he returned to Marco’s room, Marco was sitting up again.

“I didn’t hear the fire alarm go off,” he said with a soft smile.

“That’s because I can handle tea,” Ace snapped, but then his face softened. “Here, camomile. Hopefully, that will help you sleep.” He handed Marco one of the mugs, who accepted it gratefully, and Ace took a seat next to him on the bed.

Marco blew on the tea before he looked to the side, to Ace. “I’m really glad you are here, Ace. I couldn’t have handled it without you.”

Ace smiled weakly, and together they sipped their tea. Once they were finished, they lay down in bed together again, Marco’s arms wrapped around Ace. Ace had trouble keeping his eyes open, especially when Marco nuzzled into his hair. He kept forcing his eyes open, until finally, he could hear Marco’s breathing even out. He waited a few more minutes before he removed himself from Marco’s embrace.

Carefully, Ace rose from the bed and took a final look at Marco. Then, he took a deep breath to calm his racing heartbeat. He didn’t dare to stay too long as Marco was a light sleeper, so he quickly left the room, not having bothered to undress.

Downstairs, it was still dark, but just as Ace was thinking about how he would leave the premises without his motorcycle, the lights was flicked on.

Whitebeard was sitting in one of the armchairs. “Where are you going?” he asked.

Ace had almost gotten a heart attack and was still trying to gain his breath. “Why are you sitting here in the dark?” he snarled.

“Why are you sneaking out of my house in the middle of the night?” Whitebeard asked calmly.

Ace clenched his fists. “I’m going to make Teach pay. Marco doesn’t have to deal with that.”

“And how exactly were you planning on leaving?”

“I actually hadn’t thought that far ahead,” he muttered embarrassedly and scratched the back of his head.

Whitebeard tossed something to him and, when he caught it, he saw it were keys. “In the garage you will find my old motorcycle. Don’t worry, Rakuyo has taken good care of it.”

For a moment, all Ace could do was stare at the man. He had been so sure Whitebeard was going to try to stop him. “Thanks… Pops.”

“You are one stubborn brat,” the man answered with a smile. “Promise me to be careful.”

“I will!”

As he made for the door, he barely caught Edward Newgate’s last words: “Good luck, Second Division Commander.”

* * *

Marco woke up with more space than he should have. The place Ace had occupied when Marco had fallen asleep was empty and cold. Sprinting out of his room, he ran into Rakuyo in the hallway. “Where’s Ace?!”

“I thought he went to the hospital.” Rakuyo scratched the back of his head.

“He did not.” Marco knew Ace well enough to know where he had gone off to. He went after Teach by himself, the idiot!

Without paying Rakuyo any more heed, Marco stormed downstairs. Pops was sitting at the breakfast table, reading the paper.

“You let him go?!” Marco all but yelled. He was trembling, with rage, but also with fear for Ace’s life.

“The boy had made up his mind. There was nothing I could have said to change it.”

Marco was panicking, barely hearing Namur ask: “What’s going on?”

“I’m going after him!” Without answering the question, he headed for the door. He had fallen asleep in his clothes, so he didn’t bother changing.

Once he sat down in the car, he realised he didn’t know where he had to go. But he also knew that Ace hadn’t known that either, and if he had, Marco knew who his source was. So having started the engine and driving away when his brothers came running outside, he dialled the number of the police station in Sabaody.

“I need to speak to captain Smoker,” he said, when someone on the other line had greeted him. “It’s important.”

As he was being put through, he tapped his fingers on the wheel nervously. It didn’t take long before a gruff voice said: “Smoker.”

“Hello, it’s Marco Fenwick,” he started.

Smoker sighed. “Not you too.”

“So Ace did call you. I need to know what you told him.”

“Is he in trouble?”

“He might be soon. Just tell me!” Nervously, Marco chewed on his lip.

“What the hell is this about? Ace kept pestering me about a guy, Teach or something. Look, he doesn’t have a record, and there is not much I can tell.”

“But there is _something_ , isn’t there? What did you tell Ace?” Marco pressed.

“Just that this Teach fellow owns a warehouse.” Marco heard some shuffling about of papers, and Smoker named the address. “What is this about?” he asked suspiciously. “Are you doing something illegal?”

“I wouldn’t dare. Thanks, Smokey.” And he hung up before Smoker could utter another word. Most likely yell at him for using the nickname that Ace had given him. Marco hadn’t really thought about it when he called Smoker that, it had just slipped out.

Still, as he set course to the warehouse, he wondered what Teach even needed it for.

While he still had strong suspicions about Teach’s involvement in Thatch’s attack, he couldn’t think of a reason why. Why would he try to kill Thatch? What could he possibly have done? As far as Marco knew, the two had always gotten along just fine. Unless Teach had gotten caught up in some shady business – that is, even shadier than Pops was working in, and he had been – and Thatch had overheard something? The idiot probably had just laughed it off!

Suddenly, he remembered the death of the journalist a while ago and the information Shanks had given him then. The mysterious assassin, who went by the name of Blackbeard, named himself after a pirate from the eighteenth century called Edward Teach. Teach. He wouldn’t have…?

Stepping on the gas, Marco could only hope he was in time to help Ace.

* * *

Ace stepped off his motorcycle and checked the address again. Apparently, he was in the right place, though he sure as hell hadn’t expected to be standing in front of a warehouse which the sign said should hold _pies_ of all things. Still, he was glad he had taken the time to sleep and eat before he came here or that sign would have looked damn appealing.

He hadn’t planned on taking a break, but riding his – or rather, Pops’ – motorcycle had cleared his head, and he realised he wouldn’t be able to take on a murderer without rest and on an empty stomach. It did mean, however, that there was the possibility of Marco following him. But as he scanned the area, he didn’t see a blue sports car, so he assumed Marco wasn’t here. Not yet, at least.

He tried the door, which was locked. Fortunately, it wasn’t the first time he had broken in somewhere – though, most experience he had gained by trying to get into his own house after losing the key, hence the spare one under the mat – and after digging up a piece of iron wire from his pant pocket, he started to wiggle it in the lock. After a while, he heard a click and, with a grin, he pushed the door open.

Inside, it was dark, except for the light that fell through the windows high to the ceiling. He encountered several large crates labelled with the different kinds of pies they should contain, but, somehow, Ace doubted that.

“Teach!” he called out loudly. He wasn’t sure the man would be here, but if he wasn’t, Ace could always check his house.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind him, and Ace whipped around. Behind him, Teach was standing, actually munching on a piece of pie.

“You know,” Teach said as he wiped his face clean with the back of his hand, “it’s illegal to break in.”

“So is murder,” Ace spat back.

“Attempt to manslaughter, according to the paper. At least, I assume you’re referring to the unfortunate accident that happened to dear Thatch.”

“Don’t you dare talk about him!” Ace was shaking with rage. “It was no accident, and you know that as well as I do. There were no signs of a break in, which means Thatch let the person responsible in. It was you, wasn’t it?!”

Teach raised an eyebrow. “What, you’re working for the cops now?”

“I’m not wearing a wire, if that’s what you think.” Ace pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his naked chest. “See?”

“I’d rather not. How did you find me, then?” Teach inquired.

Ace smirked. “I do have a cop buddy.”

“Ah, that’s right. That captain, right? Well, I must say, well done fucking your way into both the corps _and_ the Whitebeard family. Yet they still let you do the dirty work, eh?”

Ace clenched his teeth. That bastard…! “They’re _your_ family as well. Though, that didn’t stop you from trying to kill Thatch. What can he possibly have done to deserve that?!”

Teach snorted. “That whole family is messed up. And I didn’t belong with the chosen few, so I wasn’t actually part of it, was I? But to answer your question, he didn’t do anything. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, asking the wrong questions. He overheard me talking to my boss, but the fool didn’t even realise what that meant for him. And even after shoving him down the stairs, the bastard didn’t want to die. Hell, he laughed it off. So I had to try again.”

“And you failed again,” Ace said. He couldn’t help but sound a little smug. “You can’t even kill someone right.”

“Oh, I can kill plenty right, thank you very much. It’s just that he’s like vermin. Doesn’t know when he has to die. But don’t kid yourself, you think he’ll wake up from this? True, I would feel better if I could finish the job, but those so-called brothers of his are clinging to him like leeches. Especially that make-up wearing freak. He is way more upset than he should be.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Izo like that!” Ace roared and drew the dagger that hung from his belt. He found that in the garage when he picked up Whitebeard’s motorcycle. “You know why I’m here, so fight me!”

“Teach!”

Ace’s eyes widened when he recognised that voice. How did Marco find him so fast? He must have called Smoker as well. Damn that traitor! Ace turned around and saw Marco nearing, his hands in his pocket and walking leisurely, like he was in no hurry.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the special one,” Teach sneered. “You’re here to protect your boyfriend?”

“Marco, what the hell are you doing here? I can handle it!” Ace yelled. His hand clenched tighter around the dagger in his hand. He didn’t want Marco to get caught up in this fight. He was willing to lay his own life on the line, if he could take Teach’s. And if he succeeded in that without dying, he would definitely go to prison. Marco shouldn’t have to suffer the same fate. “Just go!”

“You must be out of your damn mind if you think I’ll let you handle this by yourself. This is as much my problem as it is yours.” Marco’s voice was hard and confident. His eyes flicked over to Teach. “I know your little secret, Teach. Or should I call you Blackbeard?”

Confusedly, Ace looked up. Why were they talking about pirates?

“You see, Ace, Teach has been hired as an assassin. By Akainu.” Marco came to a halt next to Ace.

Ace’s eyes widened. “You work for him?!” he asked Teach disbelievingly.

Teach smirked. “Indeed I do. But don’t worry, he didn’t send me after you. You’re just small fry.”

“I’d like to see you try!” Ace jumped forward and lashed out with his dagger. Teach leaped back, pulling a gun. Ace froze. He hadn’t counted on firearms.

Teach – or Blackbeard – smirked smugly again. “That’s better. I can’t have you boys walking out of here. That would cause me trouble, no doubt, and I don’t feel like having the cops after me.”

“You can’t shoot us both,” Marco stated, his arms crossed before his chest.

“Actually, I can. I have six bullets in here, which means I can kill you both three times if I choose to do so.”

From the corner of his eye, Ace saw Marco make a movement and, at the same time, Ace jumped forward. A shot was fired, and Ace closed his eyes, but he didn’t feel any pain. His head snapped to the side.

Marco was still standing, and nothing in his body language betrayed being hit. If it weren’t for the red stain that started to spread on his shirt.

“No!” Ace yelled and leaped forward. A second shot was fired, grazing Ace’s hand and forcing him to drop the knife. That didn’t stop him, however, and using his momentum, he hit Teach in the face with his fist. Teach stumbled a few paces backwards and spit on the floor, including a tooth.

“Annoying brat!” he grouched out as he wiped his mouth with his hand. “Why couldn’t you just stay out of this? I have nothing against you. Or I hadn’t.” He aimed his gun again as Ace raised his fist to hit him again. Suddenly, Ace saw a flash of blond, distracting Teach. With one well-aimed hit, Ace made Teach fall on the ground, knocking him out.

Panting, both from anger and adrenaline, Ace turned round to Marco. Marco had sunken onto his knees and was pressing a hand against his side, where blood seeped through. Yet there was still a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Ace hastened towards him to see how bad the wound was. He pushed Marco down and carefully peeled away the remains of the shirt.  
“It’s only a flesh wound,” Marco assured him. “Nothing vital is hit.”

“What the hell were you thinking, coming here?!” Ace snapped, trying to withhold a sob now the adrenaline was fading. “You could have died, you bastard!”

“And you have more right to die than I have?” Marco’s eyes pierced into his.

“I told you I can take care of it! You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” Ace muttered as he tried to staunch the wound.

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?”

Ace was about to retort when Marco called: “Watch out!” He pushed Ace out of the way the moment another shot was fired. Teach had woken up and had crawled towards the gun while they were talking.

Ace heard a muffled groan, and his eyes widened when he realised Marco was hit again. Seeing red with rage, Ace jumped up and ran towards Teach, who was still lying on the floor. He kicked him in the head so that he let go of the gun and, picking it up, Ace emptied the remaining bullets into the bastard’s skull. Teach stopped moving.

Panting, Ace let the gun fall to the floor and hastened back to Marco. Marco was lying on the ground, clutching the second bullet wound. It was higher than the first, and Ace feared the worst. With his shirt that had been discarded on the floor, he kept pressure on the wounds. Marco groaned in pain, but managed to open his eyes.

Ace blinked often to remove the moisture in his own and sniffled. “Don’t you dare die!” he said, his voice trembling as much as his hands.

Marco placed his own bloodied hands over Ace’s and forced a smile on his face. “I don’t die that easily.”

Ace bit harshly on his lip to prevent the tears that were threatening to fall.

Marco’s eyes softened. “Ace…” Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his voice sounded pressing when he repeated: “Ace!”

It confused Ace a little, until he heard a soft click next to his ear before the barrel of a gun was pressed against his temple. He closed his eyes.

“Raise your hands,” a voice said, one Ace had never forgotten.

“I can’t,” he replied with clenched jaw. “If I remove the pressure, he could bleed out.”

The barrel was pressed harsher against his head, and Marco gave him an encouraging nod. Slowly, he raised one hand and then the other.

“Good. Now stand up like the good little boy you are.”

Again, Ace did as he was told, raising slowly and looking pleadingly at Marco. As soon as he stood up straight, he was pulled against a body behind him, the gun still against his head.

“How did you find me?” Ace asked through clenched teeth.

Akainu snorted. “You don’t think I have people on the lookout everywhere?”

“I thought I was small fry.”

“Not now you’ve killed my best assassin. You’ve been a bad boy, Ace.”

“As have you,” Marco’s voice suddenly sounded.

Marco was no longer lying on the floor, but was standing next to Akainu, Teach’s pistol pressed against Akainu’s head. How he managed to move so fast with two gunshot wounds eluded Ace.

Akainu kept Ace pressed against him, his gun ready. “And who might you be?”

“Haven’t you done your homework, Sakazuki? ‘Cause I have.”

“Your name is Fenwick. You’re an arson inspector who used to be a fireman. Hardly interesting, only annoying,” Akainu huffed.

“Wrong.” The gun Marco was holding clicked as he cocked it. “What’s the use of an inside man if you don’t get any trading secrets? My real name is Marco. Marco Newgate.”

Ace’s eyes widened, as he imagined Akainu’s did as well. Marco was actually related to Whitebeard by blood?

“I assume you have heard of me now?” A hint of a smirk could be heard in Marco’s voice.

“You’re supposed to be dead!”

“So are you if you don’t let go of Ace right now.”

Ace could feel Akainu tense behind him, but he relaxed instantly and even laughed. Akainu pulled at Ace’s hair, forcing his head back as he pushed the barrel of the gun into his mouth. “This is how you like it, isn’t it?” he whispered in Ace’s ear with a sickeningly sweet voice. Ace gagged, but couldn’t get himself loose.

“I warned you,” Marco said threateningly.

“If you paid attention, _boy_ , you would notice that gun holds six bullets,” Akainu said calmly. “Six shots were fired. That means you’re bluffing.”

Ace froze, the gun still in his mouth.

Slowly, Marco raised the gun he was holding and placed it on the ground, raising his hands in defence. It sickened Ace how blood-soaked his shirt was looking.

“Just let Ace go,” Marco said. “You can take me instead. There are a lot of people who think I’m dead and would like to kill me.”

“I think I’ll keep him, as an insurance,” Akainu said. “You just stay where you are, and nobody gets hurt.” He started to walk backwards, keeping his eyes on Marco and pulling Ace with him, who still was choking around the barrel. Marco looked calm, but Ace knew him long enough to know he was furious. There was nothing he could do right now.

Ace was pulled outside the warehouse to where a black limousine was parked. Several people, which he assumed were Akainu’s henchmen, were waiting. So even if Marco would come out, he was dead.

“Now,” Akainu said calmly, almost bored.

Ace wondered what was happening, when suddenly the warehouse blew up before his eyes. He turned away as much as possible to protect himself from the rubble that flew through the air, but Akainu had planned all this and made sure they were at a safe distance.

Wide-eyed, Ace stared to the place where the warehouse had been standing only seconds ago. “No,” he whispered. “No!”

Marco couldn’t be dead. Fire couldn’t kill a phoenix.

Right?


	30. Chapter 30

Stumbling, a hand pressed against the wound below his ribs, he made his way towards the house. The blood loss made him feel lightheaded and he was unstable on his feet, grabbing the doorpost with his free hand to steady himself. A shaky finger pressed the doorbell, not letting go until the door was ripped open and an angry voice yelled: “Do you have any idea what time it is?! Oh fuck, Marco?! Marco?”

“He has him!” With his final strength, he grabbed his brother’s shirt, pulling him forward. “He’s got Ace!”

* * *

When he came to, he saw he was in his own room, almost his whole upper body wrapped in bandages. It had its advantages to have so many nurses around the house to take care of Pops as it saved them the trouble of going to the hospital, which would only lead to more trouble. Hospitals were obligated to report all gunshot wounds to the police, after all, and Marco didn’t feel like explaining to them why he had been at the warehouse.

His entire family had gathered in the room, with the obvious exception of Izo, and Jiru wasn’t there either. They would be in the hospital, watching Thatch.

“What the hell happened?!” Haruta exclaimed as soon as he saw Marco was awake. “First, you just run off without saying a word, then we hear on the news a warehouse somewhere was blown up, only to have you appear, blackened, with two gunshot wounds and a few bruised ribs!”

“And who has Ace?” Vista chipped in. He had been the one to catch Marco when he passed out.

Marco sighed and sat up a little, wincing when he felt his injuries. He looked at his father, sitting in the back of the room.

“You should tell them, son,” Whitebeard only said.

Marco nodded. “Could someone call the others as well? I think they should hear this too.”

While Izo and Jiru were called and brought up to speed, Marco had eaten a little and felt less like he could pass out again. Once an expecting silence fell, he sighed and started his story. “When I woke up this morning, Ace had left without saying anything. To avenge Thatch.”

“Wait,” Haruta interrupted. “How did he know who’s responsible? The cops said it was a robbery gone wrong, right? It could be anyone.”

Marco closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s my fault. I had a suspicion and told him about it.”

“Who did you suspect?” Rakuyo asked. His voice was soft, but still sounded loud in the completely silent room.

Marco looked at Whitebeard again, who nodded slowly. He took a deep breath. “Teach Marshall.”

His brothers stared at him, faces varying between looking like he had gone mad to various stages of shock.

“What the hell?!” Curiel exclaimed. “He’s one of us, man!”

“I know. I just couldn’t believe Thatch’s broken arm was an accident. I asked Ace to look into it, because I hoped he could be objective and ease my worry. But then Thatch was stabbed…” Marco rubbed his temples. “Ace went after him. I knew that when I started to chaise him, and according to a source, Teach owned a warehouse.”

“So it’s _true_?!” Haruta yelled. “Someone from our own family did this to us?!”

“Yes,” Marco said softly, and his eyes flicked over to the phone where he had heard a muffled sob.

“Why?” Haruta stammered. “Teach is Thatch’s friend! Our family!”

“Teach was working as an assassin. His codename was Blackbeard. Thatch overheard something he wasn’t supposed to hear, which is why he needed to die.”

“So what the hell happened in that warehouse? And does Teach have Ace?” Kingdew interjected.

“Teach is dead,” Marco said flatly. Another silence fell.

“Did you…” Jiru finally said over the phone.

But he shook his head. “I had every intention, but he managed to shoot me twice. After the second time, Ace got hold of the gun and… shot him three times in the head. Added to the explosion of the warehouse, I’m pretty sure he didn’t survive.”

“You did,” Haruta sneered.

“I was shot twice, not fatally,” he said.

Silence filled the room once more, when Rakuyo suddenly remembered something. “So… Who has Ace?”

“After he killed Teach, he tried to staunch my wounds when…” He took a deep breath. “The man Teach was working for was Akainu.”

“That businessman that was after Ace’s life?” Vista plucked at his moustache with more force than usual.

Marco nodded. “He was there. He took Ace and then blew up the warehouse, probably hoping to kill me.”

Despite everything, Rakuyo laughed. “He should have known better. Like you can kill the Phoenix with fire!”

Some other snickered as well, albeit half-heartedly.

When the laughter had died down, Izo’s soft voice sounded over the phone. “Marco… Ace did this… All of this, for us? For Thatch?”

“Yes,” he answered.

There was a moment of silence. Then Izo said determined: “I will help you get him back.”

“Are you sure?” Marco asked. He had expected that Izo would stay by Thatch’s bedside no matter what.

“He avenged Thatch. He killed someone for us. He’s family, Marco, it’s my duty to help him.” Marco looked around the room and saw all his brothers nod in approval. A smile tugged at his lips, and he looked at Pops. He wore the same determined expression as his sons.

“I’m going with you.”

Marco looked up when he heard that familiar voice. He thought only his family would be present, but in the doorway, Luffy was standing, the rim of his straw hat casting a shadow over his eyes.

“Luffy, why are you here?” Marco asked confused.

Luffy stepped further into the room. “Ace didn’t come home and didn’t call me. He always calls.”

“I told him to come over,” Whitebeard said.

Marco nodded slowly. On the one hand, he knew Ace would be pissed at him for endangering Luffy. On the other, Luffy was as stubborn as Ace was, and nothing would stop him from helping save his brother.

“Alright,” he said eventually. “There is only one problem. I have no idea where Akainu might have taken Ace. For now, we’ll have the element of surprise, as he thinks I’m dead, but as soon as the police reveals they have only found one body, he’ll realise I’ve escaped and might have warned you.”

“I think I can help you with Ace’s location,” Fossa said as he re-entered the room, a police radio in his hand. “They’re on their way to the warehouse, but two cars were spotted fleeing the scene driving away in southwest direction. One of them matches the description of Teach’s car. If there is indeed a link between Teach and Akainu as you say, Marco, I’m willing to bet a whole lot that they will destroy it, along with Ace.”

“Alright, let’s go!” Luffy was already running for the door, but Whitebeard grabbed his collar.

“Not so fast, brat. We’ll need a plan.”

* * *

Ace came to, his head aching. After he had seen the warehouse blow up, and Marco with it, he had tried to escape, run towards the rubble to find him or at least his body, but then he was hit on the head with something. It wasn’t the first time he had woken up, the first being as he was slung over someone’s shoulder in what looked like an office.

Apparently, they had knocked him unconscious again, because now it was dark around him, and he realised he was moving. They had put him in the boot of a car! It would be easy to set it on fire or throw it off a cliff, and get rid of him once and for all. His situation looked quite hopeless, but he wasn’t about to give up, even if he was bound and gagged.

As he had often seen in movies, he turned and managed to kick one of the brake lights out of the car. It gave him the opportunity to see something, though all he saw was the road and meadows. It meant they had left the city already. Where would they be headed? Probably somewhere remote. Akainu’s lair?

He felt around in his pocket, but his phone was missing. Of course, Akainu wouldn’t make a rookie mistake as to let him have it. His lighter was missing as well. Fuck, that had been a present! Not that he would need it where he was going, whether he would be Akainu’s prisoner or get killed.

Sadly, he looked outside as the landscape flashed past. Even if he saw a sign indicating where they were, he couldn’t tell anybody. Would there even be someone looking for him? Whitebeard and his sons had enough on their minds already, with Thatch in a coma, Teach dead and Marco possibly too. Luffy and his friends would miss him, but he had never told them much about Akainu, not how serious the problem was, so how would they connect the dots? How could anyone find him?

Sighing, he rolled on his back, insofar possible with his hand tied behind it. Tears welled up and angrily, he blinked them away. He never cried about himself or his fate, but as one of the tears made it down his cheek, he realised this wasn’t about him. This was about Thatch and Marco. They could both be dead for all he knew. Thatch had been stable, but it could have changed. And Marco… He had been shot twice, even though he had been able to move quite fast after that. He should never have come to the warehouse, even if Ace realised Teach probably would have killed him if Marco hadn’t shown up. Or handed him over to Akainu, which, essentially, was the same. He would have been in the same boat as he was now, only then Marco would still be alive and healthy.

Now his trail of thought had landed on Marco, he wondered if they would have gotten back together if none of this would have happened. Probably, because even though Marco had said in his room they shouldn’t be kissing, that was only because of the situation, because of what happened to Thatch. In the bathroom of the Baratie, now seemingly so long ago, they had been about to kiss. However he turned it, Marco still had feelings for him, and Ace for Marco. It would have been only a matter of time. If not in the restaurant, then later, sometime, somewhere. The thought made him smile a bit. At least he had been loved, even if it was only for a little while.

His only regret was never being with Marco without any secrets, because now, looking back, he realised Marco had always held back in their relationship. Seeing how easily he had fallen for Marco then, it wasn’t hard to imagine how amazing it would be now. Too bad he would never find out, even if Marco was still alive.

He choked out a sob and tried to calm his breathing. Everyone close to him got hurt eventually. Marco had managed to leave his past behind, before Ace came along and ruined everything. He was the one with someone after his life, after all. He had sucked Marco into this mess and made Marco feel obligated to risk his life for him. Somewhere, a rational voice deep inside him said that this would have happened anyway, regardless of if he had met Marco, but he didn’t believe it.

Now Thatch was in a coma or worse, and Marco was dead. Izo had been inconsolable about Thatch, losing Marco would kill him. He had singlehandedly ruined the Whitebeard family. And he would never see any of them again.

Another sob escaped him and, no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stop the tears from coming anymore. He was so tired, his head hurt and now his arms and back as well. His motto had always been to live without regrets, and while he knew he would kill Teach all over again given the opportunity, his greatest regret was letting Marco down. To never see Marco again, never lie in his arms again. Their breakup seemed silly now, or rather, the fact that Ace didn’t take him back the first opportunity he got. Marco had come after him, saved his life so many times…

He was in love with Marco. He just wished he had said that to Marco while he still had a chance.

The car came to a sudden stop, launching Ace against the back of the boot. His head banged against something hard, and he cursed. He forced his eyes open as voices grew louder. It was hard to hear what they were saying, because a loud noise drowned them out. Where the hell were they?

He saw a shadow falling over the light that came in through the hole the brake light had left and he heard someone shouting angrily. They probably weren’t too pleased that he had kicked out the light.

The lid of the boot was suddenly opened, and Ace made ready to kick whoever the hell it was in the face. Apparently, they had expected that, because his feet were caught, and he was roughly shoved back in the boot. A gun was aimed at him. Growling under his breath, he laid still.

Akainu appeared in his view, cocking his head a little as he studied Ace. Ace instinctively crawled further against the back of the boot.

Akainu snorted. “I can finally see what all those people saw in you. You look rather appealing like this. Too bad the world won’t see it. Get up.”

Ace was inclined to refuse, but the gun pointed at him was pretty convincing. On the other hand, he would die anyway, Akainu would personally make sure of that, and he would probably make sure that it looked like an accident to prevent the cops from looking into his death.

Still, his survival instincts kicked in, and he didn’t struggle too much when his ankles were untied. He did kick the guy in the face and earned himself a hit with the hammer of the gun. He groaned and closed his eyes as pain shot through his skull.

He was hoisted to his feet, but someone held him tightly by his arm, so there was no chance of running away. Now he could finally see where he was. They were standing on what seemed to be a small airport, completely abandoned aside for Akainu and his henchmen. A plane stood ready.

He tried to speak, but the gag prevented him from doing so. Akainu nodded to one of his men and his mouth was uncovered. Ace spat on the ground in an attempt to get rid of the foul taste in his mouth. Then he looked up and nodded towards the plane. “You’re gonna throw me out of a fucking plane?”

“That would be fun, but I have something else in mind. You’re going to have a car accident.”

Ace scoffed. “You’re gonna give your limousine up for that?”

When Akainu shook his head with a smile, Ace turned to the car he had come out of. It wasn’t the limousine he had seen when Akainu had dragged him out of the warehouse. This vehicle was also black, but it looked like a normal car.

“Here is what happened,” Akainu said in a dramatic voice. “In a fit of insanity, you shot Teach and your ex-lover in Teach’s warehouse. To cover your tracks, you blew it up and fled in one of the deceased’s car, only to lose control over the wheel and crash tragically.”

“Yeah, I don’t have a driver’s licence,” Ace said, trying to sound bored.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t drive.” With a smirk, Akainu nodded, and the henchman with the gun pushed Ace towards the front of the car. He cut the rope around his wrists before shoving Ace into the seat. Ace’s hands were then fastened with tape to the wheel and his feet to the pedals at the bottom. The henchman started the ignition.

“There is a ravine less than a mile from here.” Akainu pointed in the distance and then smiled evilly. “You should really watch where you drive.”

The henchman closed the door, but leaned in through the window and placed a block ice on the accelerator. Teach’s car – because it sure as hell wasn’t Marco’s – had an automatic transmission, it started to drive right away. The henchman pulled himself from the window just in time.

Ace tried to steer, but they must have blocked it somehow. At this rate, he would crash and die, as Akainu intended it. That was why they put ice on the accelerator pedal, it would melt and leave no traces.

As hard as he could, Ace stamped in the breaks, but nothing happened. He closed his eyes and said a quick prayer.

The sound of another engine sounded above the one from the car, and, driving a motorcycle himself, Ace recognised the sound right away. His head snapped to the side, where he saw a figure on a bike riding next to the car. The window was still open, but Ace couldn’t hear anything the person was saying. He understood the gestures, however. _Climb on the back_.

His heart beating fast, both from adrenaline of almost dying and relief from being rescued, he tried once more to tear his hands loose. There was one thing Akainu hadn’t taken into account when he had Ace’s hands taped to the wheel. The sticky side wouldn’t work on wet surfaces, and Ace’s hands were sweating a lot.

He managed to break free and undid the laces of his boots so he could pull his feet free. Then, carefully, he leaned out of the window. The person driving the motorcycle kept it perfectly steady and parallel to the car, but Ace knew he had to hurry. A little longer, and they would both end up in the ravine.

Placing one leg over the back of the motorcycle, Ace held on to his saviour and then lifted his other leg out of the car. As soon as he had lost contact with the car, the driver turned the handlebars to prevent them from crashing. The bend was taken too sharply, and they both rolled off the vehicle.

A loud crashing sound sounded as the car had hit the ravine.

Groaning, Ace scrambled to his feet and knelt by his saviour. “Thanks,” he stammered. When the person didn’t move, he grew worried. “Oi, you okay?”

The figure sat half up and removed their helmet. Ace stared at him, his mouth hanging open and unable to speak. “Y-you’re alive?”

Marco placed the helmet next to him and smiled. “So are you. Though barely. We shouldn’t have come a moment later–”

He barely finished his sentence before Ace threw himself on Marco, kissing him intensely. Marco wrapped his arms around him and sighed into the kiss. For a moment, they both forgot everything around them, and all seemed normal.

Finally, Ace let go. “Wait, who’s ‘we’?”

Marco smiled and nodded back to the airport. It was not as deserted as it had been when Ace was sent away in the car. Ace stared at the scene for a while. He couldn’t see any of the faces, but he knew it was Marco’s family. They had come for him!

Slowly, he rose and took up the helmet, before helping Marco to stand up. Marco staggered on his feet and leaned heavily on Ace.

“I’ll drive,” Ace said with a smile. After all, it would only be logical for Marco to be a little wobbly with all the blood loss he had suffered. He picked up the motorcycle while keeping up Marco and helped him get on. Before he put on the helmet, though, he turned to Marco. “Once this is over, we need to talk.”

Marco nodded numbly and wrapped his arms around Ace while Ace started to engine. They had barely made it in time to save Ace, seeing the car drive off when they arrived. Marco had taken Rakuyo’s motorcycle while the others attacked Akainu and his henchmen. Luffy had wanted to come with him, but he had explained that he would have to take Ace on the back when they returned. Luffy had seemed disappointed until he was able to punch someone in the face, lighting up as he did.

Finding this place had been a bit of guesswork, but they knew the direction the cars had been headed in. Fossa had left right away along with Kingdew to follow the cars, which had leaded them to Akainu’s office. Apparently, Akainu had some things to pick up or destroy before he fled – because none of them had a doubt that he would. Fossa had followed them, giving the directions to his brothers. With some searching on the internet on Haruta’s part, they had found out Akainu owned a private plane. The closest airport was this one and, fortunately, they had been right about them going there.

Ace got off the motorcycle and took off the helmet. “Stay here and relax,” he said as he pushed the helmet into Marco’s hands. “I’m going in.”

He probably shouldn’t meddle in, just retreat, but he couldn’t leave without at least punching Akainu in the snout. All this pain and suffering he and his men had caused Ace and the people he cared about was unacceptable.

Now that he was closer by, he could see the faces of the people that had come for him. Of course, Marco’s brothers were here, but it surprised him to see Whitebeard and Izo as well. Especially the latter. He would have expected Izo to stay at Thatch’s side at all times. It warmed his heart that Izo cared enough for him to come save him.

The brothers, including Marco, and Whitebeard should add up to fifteen people, since Thatch wouldn’t be present. Ace’s eyes widened when he recognised the figure that was handing out punches like candy on his birthday.

“Luffy!” he exclaimed.

He turned around, his face lighting up. “Ace!”

On the one hand, he was worried about his brother, but he knew as well that Luffy was strong and could hold his own. As he made his way towards Luffy, he saw someone appearing behind his brother. Something glistened in his hand and, instinctively, Ace knew he had a knife.

Without thinking, he jumped in front of his brother, his back turned to Akainu.

Pain shot through his body as the blade sunk into his back and, briefly, he wondered how the hell Marco had been able to move with two bullets in his body. This fucking _hurt_.

But at least Luffy was safe. He looked up to see his brother stare wide-eyed at him, shock written over his face. Ace smiled as his legs gave out under him. Luffy caught him, preventing him from falling to the floor. He could feel Luffy shaking. Why? It was okay. Apparently, this was the day he died; he just had had a little more time than he had expected, which he was grateful for. He had seen Marco again, alive and well – considering the circumstances – and kissed him one last time. Marco’s family, and his own, too, had shown up to save him. Luffy was here.

He knew now he was loved.

“Thank you,” he croaked out, ruffling Luffy’s hair one last time. “Thank you,” he repeated, louder, “for loving me.” Then, the world turned black.

Time had stopped.

Marco stared at the place where Luffy was holding Ace, frozen to the spot. With one strike, Whitebeard had rendered Akainu harmless, but Marco hardly registered that. The only thing he saw was the blood oozing out of Ace’s body, and the fact that he wasn’t moving. He had heard Ace’s final words.

_Thank you for loving me_.

The sound of sirens snapped him out of his trance. “Luffy!” he yelled. “Apply pressure to the wound!”

Surprisingly enough, Luffy actually registered the words and pressed both his hands against the large wound on Ace’s back.

A police car drove up next to him, and Marco used the confusion to ride up to it on the motorcycle, his legs still not listening to him. The car door opened, and a familiar head of grey-green hair came out. Smoker crouched down behind the door, his gun drawn.

“I can’t believe I’m bailing him out again,” Marco heard him grouch. Then, Smoker turned towards Marco. “You people better get out of here. Backup is on its way.”

“Just get Ace to the hospital.” Marco watched as Jozu helped the still shocked Luffy put his brother in the police car.

Smoker huffed and murmuring something about “damn brats”, he crawled behind the wheel.

Other sirens came closer as the police car drove off. Marco beckoned Rakuyo over to take over the motorcycle.

“Retreat!”

* * *

Bright white surrounded him as he opened his eyes. He had never believed in heaven, but if this was it, it was rather… dull.

On further consideration, this might be hell, judging by the beeping sound that reached his ears. It annoyed him already.

He heard a soft rustling sound, and he turned his head. Pain shot through his body by the movement, and he groaned. The paper – the source of the sound – was lowered and revealed the person keeping him company.

Ace blinked a few times blearily. “Marco? Did you die after all?” he managed to croak out.

Marco placed the newspaper on his lap. “You didn’t die, though it was a close call. You’re at the hospital.”

“Oh.” That made sense. For an afterlife, this place sucked anyway. “What happened? That last I remembered was Luffy… Luffy!” He bolted upright, pain searing through his body. Groaning, he let himself fall back in the pillow.

“Relax. Luffy is fine,” Marco said soothingly. “He’s trying out the meat in the cafeteria as we speak.”

Despite the pain, Ace let out a laugh. That sounded like his little brother all right. Then the smile faded. “What… about the others?”

“Nothing more than a few cuts and bruises. Pops overworked himself a bit, but he’s in good hands. Thatch… There still hasn’t been any change in his condition.” Marco looked at the floor.

“And you?”

He smiled. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Ace sighed in relief. Everyone was okay, or at least alive. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Marco nodded and started to retell how Ace saved Luffy by taking the knife hit. How Smoker apparently had arrived just in time, having already had a hunch what was going on, thanks to Ace’s and Marco’s phone calls. The family had retreated right before the cops arrived, while Smoker took Ace and Luffy to the hospital.

“How did you escape the explosion?” Ace asked when he was done. “Don’t tell me you’re actually a phoenix.”

Marco shook his head. “Simply running like hell. I saw the explosives when I came in. I just assumed they were Teach’s, to blow up the warehouse to get rid of evidence or something. When Akainu left with you, I ran the other way as soon as you couldn’t see me anymore. My car was parked on the other side. It survived the explosion as well, in case you’re interested, though Rakuyo will have a few days work on it.” He made a face, obviously not happy, but reconciled with the facts.

Ace laughed, but then asked: “How did you find me at the airport?”

Marco smiled mysteriously. “We have our ways.”

A silence filled the room, before Ace said, bowing his head down: “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“That goes without saying.”

He looked at Marco, whose warm blue eyes stared back at him. Suddenly, watching wasn’t enough anymore. He reached out his arm, having learned from his previous movements. “Come here?”

Marco placed the paper on the table beside him and moved to the bed. Only… he didn’t rose from the chair as Ace had expected. The chair moved with him.

“Marco! You’re in a wheelchair?!” he exclaimed, eyes wide.

Marco smile a little and caressed Ace’s hair.

“How… When…?” Ace stammered.

Marco sighed and leaned back in his chair. “When we fell off the motorcycle, I landed badly. Added to everything else that happened to me, my body couldn’t handle it anymore.”

“Will you heal again?” Ace asked almost inaudible.

Marco shrugged. “The doctors say no. But they said that last time as well, so we’ll see.”

Ignoring the pain, Ace sat up and wrapped his arms around Marco’s neck. Marco held him tightly.

“You don’t have to worry about anything, I promise,” Marco said softly. “In the warehouse Akainu blew up, they have found the remains of a body, but they haven’t identified him yet. And even if they do, they can’t trace it back to you. Akainu himself has been arrested. You’re safe.”

Ace took a shaky breath. It hadn’t even sunk in yet that he had actually killed someone. He didn’t regret it, though. Teach had had it coming. Still, so much had happened in the past days, this was the first time he could relax.

Marco could barely put the break on his wheelchair when Ace’s body suddenly went limp. He would have been worried if soft snoring sounds had not suddenly sounded in his ear. Of course, Ace hadn’t taken his narcolepsy medicine in a while, and his body was recovering. He was probably exhausted.

The door of the room opened, and Luffy came skipping inside, munching on something. Next to Marco, he stopped, cocking his head curiously.

“Could you help me?” Marco asked. He couldn’t get Ace back in bed alone.

“Sure,” Luffy said with a grin.

When Ace was lying in bed again, Marco said: “He was awake. A bit drowsy, but otherwise good. Then his narcolepsy kicked in.”

“Of course! Ace can’t die,” Luffy laughed.

Marco remembered the hopelessness on Luffy’s face when they all thought Ace had died, but didn’t comment. This expression fit him way better, anyway.

“Would you mind staying here for a while in case Ace wakes up?” he asked. “I want to go see my brother.”

When Luffy nodded, Marco made his way out of the room and towards Thatch’s. To his surprise, Izo wasn’t present, but perhaps he went to get coffee or to the bathroom. Izo hadn’t left Thatch’s side, only to save Ace.

Marco moved his wheelchair next to the bed and stared at his motionless brother. The last time he had been here, he had wanted to appear strong, for his family. With everything that happened, it was like it never fully registered that Thatch might never wake up again. But now that he was alone with only the beeping sound of the medical ventilator breaking the silence, he felt something wet on his cheek. He couldn’t hold his tears back anymore, didn’t even try as he buried his face in his hands. All the pain, the cropped up feelings came rushing out.

He had never heard the door open, yet he wasn’t startled when two arms wrapped around him. Taking shaky breaths in an attempt to calm down, he grabbed the person’s hands and held them close.

Izo kept silent, only rocking them gently back and forth as he waited patiently until Marco had pulled himself together.

Finally, Marco let go of Izo and looked up. His brother wasn’t wearing make-up, bags under his eyes, and his hair hung in greasy strings over his shoulders. He didn’t think he had ever seen Izo like this, but he couldn’t blame him. He probably didn’t look much better himself.

“I thought you were getting coffee,” he said with a weak smile on his face.

Izo shook his head. “I was seeing off Perona. She had taken over the watch while we went to get Ace.” He looked over his shoulder at Thatch.

Marco nodded. Perona was Izo’s best friend and the only one outside his family he would entrust with the task of taking care of Thatch.

“How is our fireman doing?”

“Good. He woke up just now. Seems to be fine.”

“So why aren’t you there?” For the first time since Thatch was in a coma, a small playful smile lay on Izo’s lips.

Marco shrugged. “He had a narcoleptic attack. Luffy’s there now.”

“Did you talk?” Suddenly, Izo’s voice had a tone of a reprimanding schoolteacher.

“Of course. I told him what had happened while he was out.”

Izo rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. When are you planning to get back together with him?”

Marco stared at the floor. “It’s not that simple, Izo. He said we needed time, so that’s the least I can do.”

Izo got up from the chair he had sunken in. “God, you are the most stubborn…” He made a frustrated sound. “He wants you, Marco. You two are made for each other!” He sighed deeply. “You know what? I am gonna get coffee. You stay here, okay?” He cast pleading look at Marco, and Marco nodded. He wasn’t going anywhere.

* * *

Ace sat upright in bed – or as upright as possible – as Luffy gave him all the gory details of all the guys he had punched in the face. As a big brother, he should probably be disturbed, but all he could think about was how he would explain to Gramps that he got stabbed in the back and ended up nearly dead in the hospital. He just hoped Smoker wouldn’t tell the other cops they had been at the airport.

The door opened, and Luffy stopped his story midsentence when Izo came in. Luffy cocked his head. “Who are you?”

“It’s me, Luffy,” Izo said sighing.

“Oh, Izo! I almost didn’t recognise you! Shishishi.” It was good to hear Luffy was back to normal. Izo, on the other hand, was obviously not, as he looked like he hadn’t showered in days.

“Luffy, why don’t you go find out which meat is the best in the cafeteria.” Izo held out a banknote.

“Okay!” Luffy had left the room so fast he created a gust of wind.

Ace chuckled. “You know he has already been to the cafeteria?”

“That’s okay, I just wanted to talk to you in private.” Izo sat down on the edge of the bed. “How are you?”

“Better than I expected. Though, I expected to die so… Ow!” Izo had slapped him on the head. His eyes betrayed both anger and sadness, and Ace frowned worriedly.

“You never scare me like that again! God, first Thatch is stabbed, then you… You almost die and my idiot brother is in a wheelchair while my father has trouble breathing… Within a few days, my whole family…” He choked out a sob.

“Izo…” Ace wrapped his arms around him. “I’m okay, so are Marco and Pops. Thatch will be as well.”

Izo shook his head. “You don’t know that. But that’s not why I’m here.”

Ace let go of him and fell back in the pillows. “Okay… Then why are you here?”

“Marco said you still hadn’t talked about your situation.”

“There wasn’t much time.” Ace shrugged. “I had a narcoleptic attack and–”

“But you will?” Izo interrupted him.

Ace was starting to get uncomfortable and started to play with the blanket. “I dunno…”

Izo sighed. “I don’t know if you two are more perfect because you’re both stubborn or because you’re both idiots.”

Ace stared at his feet.

“Do you love him?”

He looked up, eyes wide.

Izo’s features had softened. “I’ll take your flushed cheeks as a yes,” he continued, effectively deepening Ace’s blush. “He loves you too, you know.” Leaning in his arms, he looked up to the ceiling. “Do you even realise what you two have? Love like yours is not granted to everyone.” Izo closed his eyes for a moment.

“Izo…” Ace began, but he couldn’t think of anything to say to make him feel better.

“Just promise me that you two will at least talk about it. A real conversation. Stop assuming what the other will think or say, and just say it. Promise me.” He gave Ace a piercing look, and Ace nodded.

Izo sighed in relief. “Alright, then. I told Marco that I was going to get coffee, so I’d better get on that. Can I get you anything?”

Ace smiled. “Coffee would be great.”

* * *

Marco wandered around the halls. Despite Izo’s advice, he hadn’t found the nerve to go talk to Ace. Besides, Ace needed rest, and Marco knew that Ace’s friends would be there by now. He doubted they would be happy to see Marco, as all the things that had happened in the past few weeks could be easily seen as his fault; from the breakup to the stab wound Ace had gotten.

Marco had tried to catch some sleep, but, unsurprisingly, that didn’t work out. He then went to Thatch’s room, but when he entered, he saw Izo had fallen sleep next to Thatch, Izo’s hand holding Thatch’s. Not wanting to disturb him, Marco had left again.

Hesitantly, he stopped in front of Ace’s room. He wasn’t a coward for not wanting to see Ace’s friends, he just didn’t want to ruin the mood. He could hear cheery voices coming from inside the room. Just as he considered leaving, the door flung open, and Garp came stumbling out. He looked as if he had been drinking. It wouldn’t surprise Marco if one or more of Ace’s friends had brought booze.

He tried to escape before he was seen, but Garp suddenly turned around to face him.

“You!” he called out. “You broke my brat’s heart and got him stabbed! If you weren’t in a wheelchair already, I would make sure to put you in one!” Garp continued threateningly. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Marco waited until he had finished with his rant and then said calmly: “Pops sends his regards.”

Garp, who had looked like he was going to start a new tirade, froze, his mouth hanging open. Marco wondered if it was the alcohol or something else that caused the flush on Garp’s cheeks.

Garp recovered quickly, however, and muttering something about “brats will be brats”, he walked away. Marco watched him leave, wondering why his words had had such an impact. He had hoped they would make Garp shut up, though why exactly he thought of saying them, he didn’t know. It was probably a gut thing.

Deciding to face Ace’s friends – after all, in the off chance Ace wanted to get back together or at least remain friends, he would see them again eventually, so he would rather have it over with right away – he opened the door.

The laughter and talking stopped immediately, and everyone turned to the door. Marco swallowed hard, but kept his face neutral. Several of the people present looked like they wanted to skin him alive, so at this moment, he was glad he was in a wheelchair.

The deafening silence was finally broken when Ace said cheerfully: “Marco, look what Vivi brought me! A fruit basket, including a pineapple!” Almost proudly, he presented the fruit.

Marco smiled, and the tension drained from the room. Nami handed him a beer, and they made room for him around the bed. Ace seemed happy, laughing and drinking beer – which he probably shouldn’t – and his friends were present, all of whom Marco had met before. He got some suspicious glances, mostly from Zoro, but as time wore on and booze flowed, they got less and less intense.

Marco noticed Sanji toying with a cigarette, and he asked softly: “You think I can get one of those?”

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Sanji said as he held the door open for Marco and started for the car park.

“I quit a long time ago, but I recently picked it up again. You know, stress.” He smiled weakly.

Sanji handed him a cigarette and lit it for him. Marco inhaled deeply and sighed contently when the smoke hit his lungs. He probably shouldn’t enjoy smoking so much as he knew Izo would make him quit again, but for now, they just helped him to relax.

“You know, I’m still processing everything that happened to you these past few days,” Sanji said musing. He paused, before he said: “I’m sorry about your brother. And your legs.”

Marco hummed and took another puff from his cigarette.

“Thanks for saving Ace. The guys are a little overprotective, but we know you care about him,” Sanji continued. “Zoro does too, despite the fact that he looks like he wants to strangle you.”

Marco snorted, but after that, they smoked the remainder of their cigarette in silence. Back inside, the party went on for a while, until everyone was kicked out by some pissed nurses. Marco, of course, could stay as he was a patient himself. He sat with Ace in silence for a while. Ace looked tired but content.

“I ran into your grandfather right before I came in here,” Marco said, in an attempt to start a conversation.

Ace let out a laugh. “So why aren’t you dead yet?”

“I said Pops said hi.”

The smile disappeared from Ace’s face and he rose an eyebrow. “That helped? What did he say?”

“I think he blushed,” Marco answered, still not quite believing it himself.

“Why would he…?”

“You don’t think…?”

Ace shook his head. “No way. Gramps is a cop through and through. There is no way.”

Still, they both shuddered by the mental pictures that had formed in their heads. Another silence fell.

“So, Newgate, huh?” Ace said finally. “Never expected you to actually be Pops’ son.”

Marco smiled. “I’m not, though. However, I am related to him by blood. My mother was his sister.”

“I didn’t expect him to be your uncle either.”

Marco let out a laugh. “Well, yeah. My father was out of the picture before I was even born. I don’t know anything about him. My mom was an alcoholic, so Pops already took care of me when she was still alive, even filed for custody because he didn’t deemed her fit for motherhood. The court ruled in her favour, however. She eventually drank herself to death. As only known living relative, Pops got me. But I was called Newgate because of my mother, not because of Pops.”

“Must have been hard for you to change your name, though,” Ace remarked.

Marco shrugged. “Nothing really changed. Pops never favoured me. So my name didn’t matter, only my family.”

Ace nodded and another silence fell.

“You look tired,” Marco finally said.

“So do you.”

He nodded. “I’ll leave you then.”

Before he could reach the door, however, Ace stopped him. “Marco, wait. Before you go… You think we could talk? I think we should, and not just because Izo yelled at me.”

Marco frowned, but merely said: “You think now is a good time?”

“We’ll just keep coming up with excuses not to.” Ace moved over on his mattress and patted the space beside him. Marco hesitated for a moment, but then made his way to the bed and carefully hoisted himself out of the wheelchair. When he was lying next to Ace, he waited until the latter began to speak.

Ace bit his lip, not entirely sure where to begin. He had promised Izo to talk to Marco, to see what they both wanted. “Do you think… No, are you still…” After a few more failed attempt to begin, he sighed and gave up easing into the conversation. “If I told you I love you, would you run away again?”

“Is that why you made me get out of my wheelchair?” Marco asked teasingly. “So I couldn’t leave?”

“Maybe a bit. It was a little traumatic, you know.”

The smile fell from Marco’s face.

“You haven’t answered the question, though.”

Marco turned his head so he was facing Ace. “There is only one way to find out.”

Ace stared into those blue eyes and bit his lip. Then he took a deep breath. “I love you, Marco.”

Marco smiled. “I love you too.”

A smile almost split Ace’s face into two. “See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” he said teasingly.

Marco’s features softened, and he caressed some black strands out of Ace’s face. Ace leaned in, and their lips brushed together. Wrapping his arms around Marco’s neck, he pulled him close. Their kiss was slow, re-exploring the places that had been off-limits for a while. Ace let his hand run up Marco’s torso, cupping his chin and enjoying the feeling of stubble beneath his fingers.

Finally, they let go of each other, and Ace smiled when Marco pressed his forehead against his.

“Are you sure you want this?” Marco asked softly. “I can’t do much as I am now, much less… well, you.”

Ace snorted out a laugh at his formulation, but then his face became serious again. “You think that’s all I care about? We’ll figure it out. The only question is, do you want me?”

“I’ve never stopped wanting you.”

Ace wrapped his arms around him and buried his face into his chest. After inhaling Marco’s scent, he looked up again. “There is one thing I’m worried about.”

Marco’s trailed with his fingers over Ace’s cheek. “What’s that?”

Ace looked down. “We broke up because you hid something from me. I need to know that I can trust you. So if there is anything you need to tell me, now is the time.”

Marco rolled to his back and thought for a moment. “I can’t think of anything right now. But I’ll answer any question you have.”

“That seems fair.” Suddenly, Ace grinned broadly – and admittedly, a little disturbingly. “Then how about we start with you age…?”


	31. Epilogue

Marco looked at Ace’s sleeping form next to him, his arms wrapped around Marco’s torso. They had been talking for hours, despite their tiredness, to finally clear the air. Marco had promised Ace to answer all of his questions, and Ace had taken full advantage of that. Starting with basic stuff such as his age, Ace asked some things about his childhood – Marco had never been secretive about that – but had soon moved on to the part Marco had always kept in the dark, the few years before he changed his name.

Marco had felt like the world had been lifted off his shoulders as he realised not just his secret about having met Ace had been holding him back, but all his other secrets had as well. When Ace didn’t have any questions anymore, he had offered Marco the same treatment. Ace had always been honest with him, but it gave Marco the opportunity to find out things Ace just hadn’t got round to telling him, or just never thought about.

After that, they had been lying in silence for a while, and soon, Ace had started to drift off. The silence made doubts enter Marco’s mind again. He couldn’t walk, might never be able to again. His family was a mess right now, as Thatch was still in a coma and there was no guarantee he would ever wake up again. Izo was slowly falling apart, and Pops’ health wasn’t what it had been. Could he really be so selfish as to drag Ace down with him? Ace was young, and while Marco believed him when Ace said he loved him, could Marco really be worth all this trouble?

Never had Marco expected that Ace would take him back after breaking his heart so thoroughly. He regretted how he had handled things, he shouldn’t have assumed to know how Ace would react, after all.

But now that Ace had been willing to take him back, to pick up where they left off, without any secrets this time, Marco couldn’t stand the thought of losing him again. Whether it would be because Ace decided his family situation, and Marco’s own, was too much to handle, or simply because he fell out of love. Was it worth the risk?

Marco realised his sleep deprived brain was becoming more depressed by the second, and he decided to get some sleep. Hoisting himself to a sitting position with difficulty after prying himself loose from Ace’s grip, Marco pulled his wheelchair closer when suddenly two warms wrapped themselves around his body again.

“Wh’re you goin’?” Ace mumbled sleepily as he rested his head against Marco’s back.

Marco placed his hand on Ace’s, which was resting on his stomach. “I was going to go to my own bed.”

“Why?”

Marco turned his head. “To sleep, of course.”

Ace seemed to be a little more awake and sat up. “There’s nothing ‘of course’ about that. You can’t sleep alone, I know you. You’re just gonna lie there, overthinking every single thing, and eventually pass out, maybe getting two hours of rest,” he said, reprimanding. Then, his features softened. “Stay here. I know you sleep better with someone warm next to you.”

Marco looked at him for a moment, before leaning in and kissing him on the lips. Ace made a content noise as he opened his mouth.

The kiss was slow and deep, reminding Ace of their first. He remembered well how they had been sitting in the restaurant, until Ace couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t regret taking the first step – now he realised that if he hadn’t, Marco wouldn’t have done it either. Still, it was hard to believe that Marco, who had been so cool and composed, had been trying to drive Ace away. Looking back, Ace wouldn’t change a thing about their relationship, except maybe the attempts on their lives, though they had brought them closer together. And of course, he would have preferred it if Marco hadn’t stomped on his heart. If only Marco had told him right away…

It didn’t matter anymore. He had Marco back, and Marco would never hold anything from him again.

Marco sucked on Ace’s tongue, and Ace couldn’t hold back a moan. Kissing Marco did things to him nothing else could. As long as he had Marco, he was sure things would be okay.

Pulling back, Marco caressed Ace’s cheek. “My life is a mess right now,” he said earnestly. “With my family, with me… Are you sure you want to get in the middle of that?”

“You ask me _after_ you kiss me like that?” Ace huffed.

“I’m serious.”

Ace’s face softened. “I know. But whether we’re together or not, I’m part of your family now, not to mention Second Division Commander.” He grinned proudly, but then gently caressed the stubble on Marco’s chin. “Your mess is my mess. Together we’ll get through it.”

Marco took Ace’s hand and kissed it, closing his eyes as he did so. “I’ll never know what I’ve done to deserve you,” he mumbled.

“Don’t get me started on that,” Ace said softly and intertwined his fingers with Marco’s hair. “I love you.”

Marco smiled, his eyes looking tired. “I love you too.”

Ace wrapped his arms around him. “Now, go to sleep.”

Marco hummed as he buried his face in Ace’s chest. It didn’t take long for his eyelids to slip shut, and, breathing in Ace’s scent, for a moment, everything in his life made sense again.

* * *

Marco was reading a book in his hospital bed when he suddenly heard a knock. No one of his family ever knocked, nor did Ace, or Shanks when he had come to visit. The nurses did, but they only did it to announce themselves – they had started doing that when Ace had been in Marco’s room and they were caught in a compromising position.

It was two days since Marco and Ace had talked, and things were going well. They had started over with their relationship, though kissing Ace was something Marco didn’t think he could ever get enough of. And his hands may have wandered a bit last night, just when a nurse had come in. Perhaps it was for the best, because Marco thought it was better to take things slow. They had done that in the beginning of their relationship as well, but for completely different reasons – although Ace hadn’t known that at the time.

Ace was currently being examined by a doctor – or rather, doctor in training, as Ace’s friend Law had been appointed to the job. Marco felt sorry for Ace already.

Not spending time with Ace meant he had time to think, and Marco hated that, because Thatch was the only thing on his mind right now. Izo had only left Thatch’s side once – aside from the time he came along to rescue Ace – to shower, but that was just because Pops was the one who sent him away.

Reading offered a bit of a distraction, and now, hopefully, Marco’s visitor would as well.

Marco placed his book on the stand next to the bed and called for the person to enter. His visitor turned out to be a tall, black haired woman, whom he recognised as Laki, the mother of one of the children from his aikido group. Said aikido group came storming in after her, and the line was closed by a blond woman Marco didn’t know.

“Sensei!” several of the children called out as they made their way to his bed. Some even climbed onto it, not that Marco minded. He got several bouquets of flowers pushed into his face, which the blond woman took from the children, chuckling all the while.

“We were worried when you didn’t show up for training,” Joyce said.

Marco grimaced. He felt guilty for leaving them stranded, having missed multiple trainings in the past months, and this time he hadn’t even let them know beforehand.

“Obviously, you have a good excuse,” Laki commented. “The children heard you were in the hospital, so they wanted to visit you.”

“What happened to you?” Andrea asked. “They wouldn’t tell us at the dojo.”

“And when will you be back?” Mira added.

Marco sighed and rubbed his temples. “I’m afraid I might never come back,” he said sadly.

The group gasped.

“I fell off a motorcycle,” Marco started to explain. How and why, the children didn’t need to know. “I’ve had an accident before, and now my body couldn’t take it. I can’t walk anymore, much less practice aikido.”

It was silent for a moment, before all the children started to talk at the same time. Marco couldn’t get a word in between.

Laki clapped her hands to silence the kids, and Marco was grateful for that. He sighed again. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Arthur said. He was the boy Marco had thought looked a lot like Ace when he was younger, but, somehow, that seemed to be a little farfetched now. It only proved how obsessed he had been with what had happened ten years ago, and Marco was glad he was starting to get over it. It would make his relationship with Ace much easier.

“Isoka has recovered, actually a while ago already,” Laki said.

Marco nodded. He had heard as much, but, apparently, Isoka, the previous trainer Marco had taken over from, had been busy with other things, and Marco had been asked to continue training the children. He hadn’t minded, not in the least, as he had enjoyed teaching. It killed him that he wouldn’t be able to anymore.

The previous time he had lost the ability to walk, it had been agonising. He had wanted to learn how to walk as soon as possible to resume his mission. Now, he didn’t have a mission anymore, not since Ace had impressed upon him that what happened to Sabo hadn’t been his fault. So this time, he didn’t really care _that_ much. It was annoying, sure, as he couldn’t drive anymore, and society was not one to take that many precautions for people in wheelchairs.

There were two reasons, however, that he wished he could walk again. One of them was Ace, and the other, the children of his aikido class.

“She’ll be taking over again, then?” Marco asked, in response to Laki’s remark.

She nodded. “So the children are in good hands.”

“We’ll miss you, though,” Mira said.

Marco smiled weakly and ruffled her hair. “I’ll miss you too.”

“Does Ace know?” Joyce suddenly asked quietly.

Marco looked at her. Of course, the kids hadn’t failed to notice what a wreck he had been the first training after their breakup. Marco had tried to hide it, failing miserably, and he hadn’t escaped telling the children he had broken up with Ace, which had resulted in indignant reactions from the most of them. Marco had had a hard time explaining that it was for the best.

“He does.” Marco wondered if he should tell them Ace was currently in the hospital too. A smile made his way to his face. “We’re back together again.”

He was met with cheers.

Ace chose that exact moment to enter the room. He looked a little surprised at the crowded room, but then smiled. He was merely wearing a hospital gown, which was a giveaway, even for the kids.

Joyce jumped from the bed. “You were hurt too?”

“Yeah.” He smiled at her. “Not as bad as Marco, though. It’s nice you came visit him.”

Marco was about to retort that _he_ hadn’t been the one to almost die, but decided against it with all the kids in the room.

Ace turned to the blond woman, who was holding Laki’s hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Ace.”

She smiled and extended her free hand. “Conis.”

“Conis?” Ace pulled a thoughtful face. “Why does that name sound familiar? Oh!” he suddenly exclaimed. “Have you by any chance dated Sanji?”

* * *

Ace carefully sat down on the inflatable bed in Marco’s living room. It was the second night since they had left the hospital, though only the first he spent at Marco’s place, as the previous night had been a party he couldn’t recall everything from. It had been awesome, though. All his friends had been there, and they seemed to have finally forgiven Marco. Well, the rest of them, Luffy had no hard feelings anyway.

The more protective ones, Zoro and Nami, had made a peace offer in the form of booze, although Ace hadn’t seen Marco drunk again. Perhaps that was for the best anyway, seeing what had happened last time. While that had been amazing, neither of them was currently in the shape to repeat that anytime soon.

Thatch still hadn’t woken up, and Ace knew Marco was starting to fear the worst. Especially for Izo. Marco had considered staying at the hospital for Izo, but he didn’t like using Pops’ money like that – as his insurance had only covered the first few days. There had been no need for him to stay any longer, nor had there been for Ace.

That caused them to currently lie on an inflatable mattress, as Marco couldn’t walk up the stairs. He had only moved to this house after he had learned to walk with crutches the last time this had happened. They still needed to find a solution for that. Ace’s offer to carry him up the stairs was rejected. At least as a long term solution.

Wrapping his arms around Marco, Ace crawled close to him, kissing his cheek. Marco turned his head to kiss Ace on the lips and intertwined his fingers with the dark strands.

Ace suddenly felt an overwhelming need to touch Marco, to feel him. At the hospital, they had kept it relatively chaste, except that one time Marco had grabbed his ass just as a nurse came in, so he had barely had the chance to feel Marco up.

Ace placed both his knees on either side of Marco’s hips while he continued kissing him. He soon felt hands sneak up his upper legs, sliding up to cup his ass.

“Ace, I thought we’d take it slow,” Marco said in the moment they both took to regain their breath.

Ace just shook his head. He needed _something_ , maybe not actual sex, that wouldn’t work right now, but something…

Impatient fingers started to unbutton Marco’s pyjama shirt. Marco closed his eyes and sighed, caressing Ace’s hair as he started to lick Marco’s abs. Ace was as impatient as ever, but Marco couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it. He may not be able to walk, but everything above the waist worked fine.

Ace sucked on his nipple, and Marco sighed happily. They were still tiptoeing a bit around each other, sensing how far they take things when it came to touching, aside from the occasional make-out session. Marco was glad Ace had now decided to take things a bit further.

The sudden sound of Marco’s phone made both of them look up, slightly annoyed.

“Who would call this late?” Ace grumbled.

“Could you get it, please?” Marco asked. His phone was on the table and it would take him forever to reach it.

Ace nodded and got up from the bed, his excitement from their make-out session clearly visible – as were the marks on Marco’s chest, he noted.

Marco watched as Ace picked up the phone and frowned as he saw who was calling.

“Who is it?” Marco asked, propping himself up as much as he was able.

“It’s Pops.” Ace pressed the answer button and placed the phone against his ear. “Hey Pops. Everything okay?”

Suddenly, Marco saw Ace’s eyes widen. “Really? We… We’ll be right there.”

“Is everything alright? Ace? What did Pops say?” Marco asked worriedly.

Ace placed the phone on the table, his back turned to Marco. Then, he slowly turned around, an enormous grin on his face. “Thatch’s awake.”

* * *

Of course, Thatch’s waking up had been celebrated in the appropriate way, although that had had to wait until he was allowed to leave the hospital. They didn’t like parties there.

Ace could almost see the weight being lifted off Marco’s shoulders when he told the news, and, in the weeks after, Marco bloomed up again. Only now Ace realised how much Marco had been holding back at the start of their relationship. Marco laughed more now, and not with the sad smile that Ace had seen so often.

It was good that Marco was feeling better, because Ace had problems of his own he had to deal with. The realisation had hit him that he had killed someone. It wasn’t like he regretted it; moreover, he would do it again if he had to. By killing Teach, he had saved Marco, and Thatch probably as well, as Teach would have gone after him again. Akainu hadn’t batted an eyelid when he saw Teach lying dead and had even blown his corpse up after, so Ace didn’t doubt that he would have killed Teach himself once he was finished with him.

The police had found the corpse, but it had been so badly damaged that they hadn’t been able to identify it. They thought it possible that it was Teach Marshall, as he had been the owner of the warehouse, but they had also discovered his assassin alter ego, so he could have also have fled town. There had been no mention of bullet holes in the papers and the cause of death had been thought to be the explosion. In any case, Ace was in the clear, and Akainu couldn’t hurt him or anyone he cared about anymore.

But while Ace didn’t regret killing Teach, the fact that he had killed _someone_ made him make connections with his father, the man he loathed the most. Marco’s reassurances that Ace was his own person hadn’t made the nagging feeling go away completely. It was always there, in the back of his head. Marco, observant as ever, had noticed how Ace reverted into himself and had told Ace to call Whitey.

Ace had been confused. He had met Whitey Bay at Marco’s birthday, and she seemed nice enough, but why would he call her out of the blue? Until Marco handed him her card. She was a psychologist, and because of her close ties with the family, Ace wouldn’t have to worry about confessing to murder causing him trouble.

Talking with her had really helped him, and Ace cheered up visibly, much to Marco’s relief and joy. Everything was going great now in Ace’s opinion. Marco’s family had been restored, leaving Marco with no worries left. Aside from the fact that he couldn’t work as an arson inspector anymore, not in the least because the fire station was hardly wheel chair friendly. However, Marco didn’t seem to mind that much. He had liked being a firefighter, but had mostly felt obligated to push through after what had happened to Sabo, which also went for being an arson inspector. When Ace asked if he hadn’t liked his previous job, Marco had answered with a smirk that he had mostly liked the view he had had.

Not just Marco’s bullet wounds started to heal – which, Ace noted with jealousy, healed without leaving a scar, unlike the wound on Ace’s back that had left a mark – but also, once again, Marco started to relearn how to walk, although the physiotherapy was intense and left him in much pain. Ace tried to support him as much as possible, but after his own recovery, he had to start working again.

The first time Ace saw Marco walk, albeit with crutches, Marco had managed to walk all the way from his house to Ace’s. Ace was surprised when he opened the door and saw Marco standing on the doorstep – after all, Marco had a key to his place, so he didn’t have to ring the doorbell. He blinked a few times, before wrapping his arms around Marco’s neck and kissing him passionately.

“I’m so proud of you,” he whispered in Marco’s ear.

Marco managed a pained smile, and Ace was quick to invite him in so he could sit. They ended up kissing on the couch until Luffy came home and demanded attention.

Marco had to walk as often as he could without overdoing it. Ace accompanied him frequently, but with his work, he didn’t always have the time. Fortunately, Luffy was there to entertain Marco when Ace wasn’t, and they spent a lot of time together, mostly playing video games. In turn, with Marco’s walks, Luffy had someone to walk him. Ace loved the fact that the two most important people in his life got along so well, even though Luffy was hardly picky of who he proclaimed his friends.

On a Saturday, Ace drove Marco to the cemetery where Sabo was buried to visit him properly. Luffy hadn’t been able to come along this time as Ace couldn’t take two people on the back of his motorcycle.

Ace found out Marco had been the mysterious delivery person who brought Sabo flowers all along. Even if it had caused Marco so much pain, Ace was glad he cared so much about Sabo. Marco confessed he had even been to Sabo’s funeral, even if he hadn’t stayed long because of the guilt.

When he said it, Ace’s mind flashed back to that day. The casket had been in another room, so people could pay their respects in private. Ace had gone several times, still not believing Sabo was actually gone. When he had gone again, there had been someone in the room, a blond man. Ace hadn’t seen him at the service, but as he was blond and Sabo had been too, Ace had assumed he must have been some relative. He had seemed quite upset and was murmuring something Ace hadn’t caught. He then turned around to leave, and Ace had hidden himself. He now realised it had been Marco he had seen.

They sat by Sabo’s grave for hours, Marco listening to Ace’s stories, until it became dark. Ace said goodbye to Sabo, leaving food as usual, while Marco placed flowers on the grave. Ace was already heading back to his motorcycle when he saw Marco was still standing next to the grave, his eyes closed as if in prayer. Ace kept a respectful distance until Marco opened his eyes and smiled warmly at him.

“He would have loved you,” Ace said as they walked back to the car park. They couldn’t hold hands, because of Marco’s crutches, so Ace opted for walking as close to Marco as possible.

“You think so?” Marco inquired.

“Of course! And not just because he trusts Lu’s instincts.”

Marco laughed. “Just Luffy’s?”

Ace scratched the back of his head. “I guess he wouldn’t have agreed with all the choices I have made in life. But in the end, they led me to you. Although I wonder what would have happened if we met before, like soon after it happened. You wouldn’t be dating me now, that’s for sure.”

“Why do you think that?” Marco asked as they reached Ace’s motorcycle.

Ace let out a laugh. “Don’t tell Gramps I said this, but I was a real brat growing up. It’s only because of Luffy’s persistence and ability to make people like him that I accepted him into my life. I would have driven you crazy.”

Marco took a step closer. “You turned out fine, in any case.”

Ace chuckled. “Do you mean inside or out?”

“Both.” Marco pressed their lips together.

When they let go of each other, Ace swung his leg over his motorcycle and put on his helmet while he waited until Marco had taken his seat. Marco wrapped his arms around Ace’s waist, making Ace smile, and he started the vehicle.

Ace drove them to Marco’s house. It had become quite late already, as they had stayed rather long at the cemetery. Marco started on dinner right away, because even if he was using crutches, Ace wasn’t allowed in the kitchen. Because he couldn’t stand by himself, at least not for long, and he needed his hands for cooking, Marco used a stool on high legs to sit on while he cooked. He had bought it the last time he was in this situation.

Ace smiled and let himself fall on the couch. Marco’s house was rapidly becoming his second home, if it wasn’t already. Taking Phoenix out of his cage, Ace let the bird fly around a bit before he landed on his shoulder. Marco had told Ace the bird liked to do that for some reason, and Ace didn’t mind at all.

“Come on, let’s pick out a movie for tonight,” he said to Phoenix.

A while later, Marco called out for Ace to set the table, and Ace happily complied. He then moved to the kitchen to carry the dish of food to the living room. The corner of Marco’s mouth turned downwards slightly. Ace knew he didn’t like to seem helpless, but carrying a dish while walking with crutches was difficult, and Ace didn’t mind helping.

Phoenix flew off his shoulder and landed on Marco’s, as it if felt Marco’s change of mood.

While they were eating, Ace told Marco about something that had happened at work. Law had continued his prescription for the narcolepsy medication, so he didn’t have to worry about falling asleep in his food anymore.

After dinner, they moved to the couch, leaving Phoenix to sit wherever he wanted as they started watching the movie Ace had picked out. Marco had draped his arm around Ace’s shoulder, as Ace snuggled up to him. Not for the first time, Ace realised he was content like this. Having Marco here so close to him, it felt nice, domestic even. A smile tugged at his lips. He had never expected he wanted something like this. Before Marco, he had bounced from one lover to another, no matter their gender.

Marco immediately had had a certain effect on him. No, that wasn’t true. The first time Ace had seen him, he had assumed Marco was _boring_. Boy, had he been wrong. Fortunately, he now knew better, after several months and murder attempts. But now, even if that threat had lifted, Ace knew he was happy like this. He wanted to spend his life with Marco, as cheesy as it may sound.

Ace noticed Marco looking at him, and he wondered if Marco was having the same sappy thoughts. There was a warm look in his eyes, and Ace leaned in to kiss him. Marco responded, wrapping his arms around Ace and pulling him in his lap. Neither of them watched the movie anymore, too caught up in each other.

Their kiss was slow and deep, but not lacking passion. Marco’s hands ran up and down Ace’s back, before moving to his upper legs.

Ace pulled back slightly, biting his lip. “Do you wanna go upstairs?” He felt a little insecure about asking. They hadn’t been intimate since getting back together, both because they were taking it slow and because of Marco’s situation, so Ace wasn’t sure if he was crossing a line here.

Marco smiled and brushed some hair out of Ace’s face. “Very much.”

Relieved, Ace grinned and turned off the TV. He then picked up Marco bridal style, despite his protests. Phoenix would find his way back to its cage. Eventually, Marco gave up his struggle and, wrapping his arm around Ace’s neck, started to kiss him.

In the bedroom, Ace placed him on the bed and immediately crawled on top of him. Marco’s hands roamed his body, and Ace realised how much he had missed this. Clothes were soon discarded while they tried to maintain as much contact with their bodies as possible. Ace moved back a little to admire Marco’s naked form, chewing his lip in anticipation.

Marco pulled himself up on the bars of the headboard until he was in a sitting position, perhaps to see Ace better, but Ace didn’t care. Pushing Marco’s legs apart, he dipped his head low and licked along Marco’s length.

Marco’s breath hitched, but then he started: “Ace, you don’t have to–”

Ace looked up, challenging, daring him to finish his sentence. His tongue darted out again to Marco’s erection, and Marco’s words died in his throat.

Grinning at his victory, Ace took Marco in his mouth properly, his eyes fluttering close. Marco let out shallow pants as Ace took him deeper, until he felt him hitting the back of his throat. Sucking gently, Ace pulled back, opening his eyes as he looked up. Marco was staring back at him, intensely, and it almost caused Ace to choke. Marco’s gaze was filled with desire, but it was more than just lust. There was also love.

Ace couldn’t tear his eyes away as he continued his movements. Marco’s hands were still holding on to the bars, knuckles white, and it wouldn’t have surprised Ace if the bars had snapped.

It didn’t take too long before Marco’s head fell back, and he cursed under his breath. Ace recognised it as a warning, but did nothing to pull away as Marco came into his mouth.

When he was done, Ace sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Marco’s grip on the bars had loosened – and Ace noted they had bent slightly – as he was trying to catch his breath. Smiling, Ace leaned in and kissed him.

Slowly, Marco seemed to come down from his high and wrapped his arms around Ace as he returned the kiss. “That was amazing,” he said, pressing a kiss on Ace’s forehead.

Ace smiled and snuggled closer.

Marco hummed, and Ace could feel the vibrations running through him. “Let’s do something about you, shall we?”

Ace moved until he was sitting between Marco’s legs, his back pressed against Marco’s chest. Marco kissed his hair and let his fingers run down Ace’s chest, gently combing through the happy trail leading to his groin.

Ace let out a small whine when he didn’t move any further down – he had managed to blow Marco without touching himself, but only barely. Marco chuckled, and Ace swallowed. Marco’s voice was still husky in his post sex state, and that baritone did wonderful things to Ace. He had noticed it before, when they celebrated Marco’s birthday at Pops’ house and Marco had been talking to him during sex. He might have a kink there, but for now, he didn’t care.

“Marco, talk to me,” he all but begged.

Marco hummed in surprise. “What do you want me to talk about?” he whispered in Ace’s ear while taking his erection into his hand.

Ace moaned and pressed his ass back against Marco. “Anything! I don’t care! Just… talk.”

Marco seemed to catch the gist, as he hummed again before he started to speak. Ace probably only caught half of what he was saying, as Marco’s hand had started to move as well – and it had been a while for Ace. Ace let his head fall back against Marco’s shoulder, and, between sentences, Marco kissed and nipped at his exposed neck.

Ace closed his eyes as he let the words wash over him. Marco’s voice was like silk, or honey… Ace couldn’t think clearly anymore.

“I love you.”

A smile appeared on Ace’s face as those words seemed to be enough to push him over the edge. He was still panting when he opened his eyes again, his head still resting against Marco’s shoulder.

“I hadn’t realised you liked me talking so much,” Marco said, an amused undertone to his voice.

Ace hummed. “I like your voice.” He looked up. “Especially all rough from arousal.”

Marco chuckled again, before sliding down so he was lying on the mattress, taking Ace with him. “I’ll remember that.”

Ace placed his head on Marco’s chest and let his fingers run up and down the coloured skin from Marco’s tattoo.

“Ace?” Marco suddenly asked.

Ace looked up.

“Have you ever considered getting one of these?”

“You mean your jolly roger?” Ace asked. “Isn’t that your thing?”

Marco ran his fingers through Ace’s damp hair. “You’re part of the family. Hell, you’re even a division commander.”

Ever since Whitebeard had called Ace ‘Second Division Commander’, Ace had taken over Marco’s tasks of director. Marco had trouble travelling anyway, plus they already knew him there.

“Where do you think I should place it then?” Ace plopped himself up on his elbows. “I could do it on my other arm… What do you think?”

Marco moved, turning on his side. “I see a nice canvas here.” He gently bit down into Ace’s back, who let out a surprised yelp. “You complained about the scar from Akainu’s knife. You could cover it up with a tattoo.”

Ace turned on his back, his eyes wide, before he started to grin. “Are you having pervy thoughts about you taking me from behind with our tattoos pressed together?”

“Now I do.” Marco snorted. “Way to ruin the moment.”

Ace laughed and pulled him into a kiss. He couldn’t wait until he had his tattoo.

* * *

On Ace’s birthday and New Year’s, a big party was being held, since Ace was one of the Whitebeards now. It was time to show everyone he was officially a member. Marco of course already knew, as did Pops, but the others were surprised when Ace suddenly jumped on a table and removed the shirt everyone had already been surprised he had been wearing, his back turned to the audience.

Taking up almost his entire back shone the Whitebeard logo, more elaborate than any of the others.

Marco started to applaud, and, soon, the rest followed.

Ace could only grin broadly.

* * *

“Are you nervous?”

Marco straightened his tie in front of the mirror and looked over his shoulder at Thatch, grinning. “Nah.”

“Liar.”

Marco just kept grinning. He was far too excited to be nervous.

A knock on the door made him look up. “Could you get that?”

“Of course. It’s your big day, you don’t have to lift a finger. Well, something has to be lifted tonight…”

Marco snorted. “You’re spending way too much time with Izo, you know that?”

Thatch shrugged with a grin and opened the door. “Marco? You’re eh… Gramps-in-law is here.”

Marco turned around when Garp entered the small room. Garp looked around, a little suspiciously, before his eyes rested on Marco.

“Listen, I wanted to talk to you before this whole circus starts.”

Thatch snickered in the corner, but shut up when Marco glared at him, and coughed. “I’ll just go check if the ‘circus’ is ready to go.” Snickering, he fled the room.

Marco sighed and focused his attention on Garp. “How can I help you?”

Garp scratched the back of his head. He almost seemed… nervous. “Just listen, you. Just because my brat is about to become your brat, doesn’t mean he’s not my brat anymore, alright?”

Marco smiled and nodded. “Got it.”

“Good.” Garp coughed a few times. “I should… Yeah.”

“I think there might be a seat next to Pops,” Marco called after him, and couldn’t help but grin when Garp froze in the doorway for a second, before fleeing.

Smiling, Marco turned back to the mirror and ran his hand through his hair another time. Okay, maybe he was slightly nervous.

Another knock on the door drew his attention, and this time, it was Izo in the doorway. He was wearing a beautiful silk kimono and his make-up was perfect. If one didn’t know any better, they would think this whole ceremony was for him.

“Are you almost ready?” he asked Marco. “ _Someone_ is getting impatient.”

He had barely spoken the words or a figure came bouncing into the room.

“Come on, Marco! Everyone is waiting!” Ace grabbed his arm to pull him along, before he froze. “Or is it bad luck to see each other?”

Marco smiled. “Maybe, but I think that goes for brides. And no one is wearing a dress here.”

“I _tried_ , okay?” Izo huffed and crossed his arms before his chest.

Ignoring him, Ace played with the fabric of Marco’s jacket. “You look really good in white. I can’t wait till tonight when I can tear that suit off…”

Marco chuckled and leaned in to kiss him.

“There is plenty of time for that later,” Izo’s voice interrupted them. “Come on, everyone is waiting for you.” He pushed the both of them out of the door.

Marco took Ace’s hand, which was lightly sweaty. “Nervous?” he asked with a smirk.

Ace grinned back. “Maybe a little. But I take comfort in the fact that there will be food after.”

Marco snorted. “Now I’m wondering if you look forward to spending your life with me, or me making you breakfast for the rest of your life.”

“The first of course,” Ace said hastily, before adding with a grin, “the latter is just a bonus.”

Marco elbowed him in the ribs, but couldn’t help the smile that crept up his face. He couldn’t wait until their new life together would begin.

* * *

It hadn’t surprised Ace when Marco had brought up the subject of children. It had become clear to him long ago that Marco wanted nothing more than to be a father, and that he would be perfect for the job. Now that they were married and had their life in order, it would have been the right time.

At least for Marco. Ace wasn’t so sure about himself. He liked children, sure, and he could handle the children at the Second Division, but to be a dad? The age difference between him and Marco had never bothered him, but it did mean Marco was ready to start a family when Ace barely felt like an adult.

Still, he hadn’t been able to refuse. Marco’s face had lit up when he talked about having a child, and adopting a child could take months, or longer. Ace had figured he would be ready by then.

Time, however, had gone by way too fast, and, right now, they were on their way to pick up their son. Their _son_. When they found out they would get a boy, only a few months old, deciding on a name hadn’t been hard. They had decided to honour the boy who had had a great impact on both of their lives, Sabo.

Choosing the name of his childhood friend had put Ace a little at ease, but he still doubted his parenting skills. Marco could handle it, he figured, so their kid would turn out okay, even if Ace screwed it up.

He sighed and looked out of the car window. Maybe he should have said something… It was too late now, anyway. He couldn’t back out at the last minute. He couldn’t do that to the boy.

Marco seemed to notice his restlessness and placed a hand on Ace’s as he drove. “Can you believe it? In an hour or so, we’ll be parents.”

He sounded so happy… Ace couldn’t ruin that. So he forced a smile on his face as he turned his head towards Marco. “Yeah, it’ll be great.”

They parked the car at the adoption agency and went inside. They had to fill in the final paperwork, and afterwards, they were asked to wait. It took agonisingly long, and Ace was biting his fingernails. Marco took his hand again and squeezed reassuringly.

Finally, the lady from the adoption agency came in, a baby cradled in her arms. Marco rose to take the child from her, turning around to Ace radiating with joy. Seeing Marco holding the child, now their son, made Ace swallow. The way Marco looked so fondly at the child almost made him jealous.

“You want to hold him?”

Marco’s voice startled him, and he shook his head. “That’s okay.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “He’s your son too, you know? And you’ll have to hold him in the car, since I have to drive.”

After everything was finalised, Ace took the baby over from Marco, trying to keep calm. He was sure he would drop Sabo at some point, or forget him somewhere, and Sabo would grow up to hate him…

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself, until an arm slipped around his shoulders, and Ace looked up. Marco smiled at him. Ace finally relaxed. Marco was here, so it would be okay.

That feeling didn’t last too long, as later that night, Ace found himself in the nursery they had been building for the last few weeks, and which finally had an occupant.

Sabo was sleeping peacefully, but instead of being endeared, Ace feared him waking up. What would he do? What should he do when Sabo cried? Why didn’t he study more for this?!

The door to the nursery opened, startling Ace, and Marco came in, looking sleepily. “What are you doing here?” he asked, as he sat down next to Ace.

Ace shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.”

Marco smiled. “I understand that you can keep looking at him all day, but you need your rest.”

Ace looked away.

“You’ve been quiet all day,” Marco remarked. Then he sighed. “Ace, if you weren’t ready to have a child, why didn’t you say so?”

“I never said…” Ace started, but then cast his look down. “I know how badly you wanted children. And since you’re so obviously a great father, I figured you could handle it when I screwed up.”

Marco raised an eyebrow. “When?”

“Obviously. I can’t believe you let me go through with this!” Ace said accusingly as he rose from his seat and almost forgot to be quiet. “I’m gonna be a horrible dad, and Sabo will hate me!”

Marco stayed silent for a moment, before he too rose. “Tell me this. Who always makes sure there was enough food in the house for Luffy?”

“I do, but–”

“Who takes care for him when he’s sick?”

“Me, but also–”

“Who plays with him?” Marco continued undisturbed.

“I do–”

“Who reprimands him when he’s been bad?”

“Me, but Gramps too!”

Marco hummed. “Please don’t use Garp’s parenting skills as reference material. But do you see where I’m going with this? You’re already a great parent, for Luffy. And the children in the Second Division adore you, not to mention my aikido class. You’ve got this, Ace, I promise. Of course, you’re new at this, but you’ll learn. I have some experience with taking care of Haruta, but I had thirteen brothers as back up then, plus Pops. And we’ll make mistakes, all parents do. But Sabo won’t hate us, because we’ll try our best.”

Ace looked at him with large eyes. “Do you mean that?” he asked hoarsely.

Marco smiled and nodded. “Yes.” He brushed a lock of hair out of Ace’s face. “You’ll be an incredible dad.”

As if on cue, Sabo woke up and started crying. Marco nodded at Ace encouragingly.

Taking a deep breath, Ace picked Sabo up.

“Check for a dirty nappy,” Marco suggested.

“Doesn’t smell like it.” Ace gently rocked Sabo to and fro, and slowly, Sabo started to calm down, until his eyes fell shut again. “Look at that,” Ace whispered, a mixture of surprise and happiness on his face. “I did it.”

Marco smiled. “I told you you’d be great.” He wrapped his arms around the both of them, his husband and his son.

Ace beamed at him, before affectionately looking back at the child in his arms. “I think you mean, we’re gonna be great.”

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thatch's awakening will be more extensively described in the ThatchIzo version of this story, called "Running from Fire"


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